China’s response to Lithuania is to ensure that other countries do not take the same route
The European Union (EU) has found itself in a bind over the worsening tensions between Lithuania and China. Last week, top EU diplomats met to find a way to defuse tensions ahead of an expected EU-China summit in the coming weeks. After a two-day meeting of foreign ministers in France, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said the group expressed “solidarity” with Lithuania, which is a member of the European Union and NATO. However, he refused to announce any concrete action. The EU has watched in horror as one of its members faces the full weight of coercive Chinese diplomacy, even as the group keeps an eye on its $828 billion annual trade with Beijing. Tension started last year Lithuania announces the establishment of Taiwan’s representative office, Such offices are hardly uncommon throughout Europe or in much of the world. However, the difference was in the nomenclature. Elsewhere the offices are not called Taiwanese, but most countries, including India, do not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan due to the “one China policy” named after New Delhi, the Taipei economic and cultural centre. Lithuania has said the name did not change its “one China policy”, but for Beijing, the move crossed its most sensitive red line. The office’s opening followed a series of developments that strained relations following the election of a coalition government, which underscored the importance of “democratic values” in the foreign policy of the first former Soviet republic to declare independence, as well as fostered close ties. with Washington.
Lithuania-China | State of a David and Goliath State
If the rest of Europe is unlikely to similarly test Beijing’s Taiwan red lines, the EU has worried about the ebbs of China’s response, which ranged from downgrading ties, recalling its ambassador, to a Effective trade blockades and in particular European pressure have ranged from measures. Companies need to stop sourcing from Lithuania if they want to continue exporting to China. China’s response suggests an attempt, as Chinese strategists like to say, “kill the chicken to scare away the monkeys”, and make sure other countries don’t consider a similar move. Beyond Lithuania-China tensions, what is particularly important for India is how the European Union, as a major power, will advance ties with China as it seeks strategic considerations against a similarly thriving trade relationship. does weight. China’s use of trade as a form of leverage and a method of coercion, contrary to its announcement in October on the 50th anniversary of its UN membership, that it eschews “politics of power” and “hegemony”. Well, that’s another concern. , Lithuania is an exception in both the trade surplus with China and no pressure is needed to access the Chinese market. How the EU assesses the benefits and costs of taking on the issue of Taiwan – a key concern to China – will be watched closely in New Delhi as it continues to recalculate its own modus vivendi with China.
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