Lithuanian leaders say the country has the right to choose its economic partners, whether it is a state or a region, in response to Beijing’s announcement that it is severing transport ties with Lithuania following its deputy transport minister’s visit to Taiwan.
President Gitanas Nauseda’s office said on August 16 that China’s decision to end transport cooperation with Lithuania “is groundless” and that “the president’s office regrets such a decision”.
“Lithuania abides by its international commitments and the one-China policy,” the president’s office said. “President Gitanas Nauseda underlines Lithuania’s independence and sovereign rights in developing economic relations with other countries and regions of the world.”
Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen, speaker of the parliament, said that China’s move “could have been predicted”.
“Lithuania as a democratic state chooses with whom to develop economic and cultural relations, and we are doing so with Taiwan in various areas,” she said.
The speaker of the Seimas, who was planning to invite her EU counterparts to visit Taiwan together, said she did not consider such a drastic reaction by the Chinese Foreign Ministry as a warning message to her.
“No, I don’t,” she told reporters at the parliament. “I have spoken about the invitation handed to me by the head of Taiwan’s parliament during his visit here in Vilnius. I have the invitation and I will urge my colleagues, other EU parliamentary speakers, to form a group and perhaps consider traveling,” she said.
The more democracies show their support and their position towards Taiwan and resist China’s attempts to dictate terms, the stronger these positions become, according to Cmilyte-Nielsen.
The speaker noted that Estonia and Latvia had now followed Lithuania in quitting China’s 17+1 cooperation forum with central and eastern European states. According to her, it shows that “this front is getting stronger”.
Cmilyte-Nielsen said no Lithuanian MPs had plans to attend the opening of Lithuania’s representative office in Taiwan.
In response to Deputy Transport Minister Agne Vaiciukeviciute’s visit to Taiwan on a business mission, China said last week that it was imposing sanctions on her and suspending “all forms of exchange” with the ministry and “exchange and cooperation with Lithuania in the field of international road transport”.
China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website that the visit “tramples on the one-China principle, seriously interferes in China’s internal affairs, and undermines China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
The Lithuanian Transport Ministry said economic cooperation between the two countries practically came to a halt following “Beijing’s illegal actions against Lithuania” last year. (LRT/Business World Magazine)
