It says that it adheres to the one-China principle, but it openly engages in official contacts with the Taiwan authorities
Why Lithuania is playing with fire
Our reporter Wu Jing Chai Yaxin
Lithuania agreed to the Taiwan authorities to set up a so-called "representative office" in its capital Vilnius. This action blatantly violated the spirit of the communiqué on the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Lithuania and seriously undermined China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on August 10, announcing that China has decided to recall the Chinese ambassador to Lithuania and requested the Lithuanian government to recall the ambassador to China.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying answered reporters on the 11th regarding China’s recall of the ambassador to Lithuania, saying that the meaning of the one-China principle cannot be distorted.
The Chinese people will never agree to the act of adhering to the one-China principle, but in fact openly engaging in official contacts with the Taiwan authorities, or even standing on the platform for "Taiwan independence" forces.
She said that it must be pointed out that since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and China, China has always respected the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of China and has never done anything harmful to China's national interests.
The Lifang allows the Taiwan authorities to set up a "representative office" under the name "Taiwan", which seriously damages China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and seriously violates the one-China principle. China has the right and should make a legitimate response.
We once again urge the Liberty not to misjudge China's firm determination and strong will to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and earnestly fulfill its commitment to uphold the one-China principle, so as to create conditions for the stable and healthy development of bilateral relations.
From seeing China as a "national security threat", to withdrawing from the China-Central and Eastern European "17+1" cooperation mechanism, to playing the "Taiwan card", Lithuania has successively engaged in anti-China "performances". What is the calculation?
What kind of country is Lithuania?
What kind of history does it have?
In response, the reporter interviewed Liu Zuokui, a researcher and deputy director of the Institute of European Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
In modern history, Lithuania went from being a big country in Eastern Europe to becoming a member of the Western camp. It was political and economic factors that played a role behind it.
Question: Lithuania has a low “photograph rate” in the international community, and many people don’t know much about it.
Where is it located in Europe and what are the characteristics of its geographical location?
What is the population, the size of the country, and the level of economic development?
Answer: Lithuania is located on the east coast of the Baltic Sea. It is also called the three Baltic states along with Latvia and Estonia. It borders Belarus on the east, Kaliningrad and Poland on the west, and lies on the intersection of Russia and Europe.
According to the data released by the Lithuanian government, the current population of Lithuania is 2.688 million and the land area is 65,300 square kilometers.
Restricted by population and area, Lithuania’s economy is relatively small. In 2020, its GDP is 48.93 billion euros, with an annual growth rate of -0.9%, which is one of the lowest among EU countries.
Question: Lithuania used to be a big country in Eastern Europe with a vast territory, but now it is only a "small place".
What kind of history has gone through behind it?
Answer: Lithuania has dominated Europe in history.
In the mid-16th century, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth formed by Lithuania and Poland was the largest and most populous country in Europe at that time.
Later, the national power declined and gradually became a vassal state and was annexed.
During World War I, Lithuania was occupied by Germany and its independence was restored in February 1918.
After World War II, Lithuania established a socialist system with the support of the Soviet Union and became one of the Soviet republics.
On March 11, 1990, Lithuania took the lead in declaring its separation from the Soviet Union and regaining its independence.
March 29, 2004.
Lithuania joined NATO and officially became a member of the European Union on May 1 of the same year.
Lithuania is currently a member of the Western camp politically and militarily.
Q: The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania once stated that the reason why Lithuania was able to take the lead in independence from the Soviet Union was because it was "loyal to its own values and beliefs."
Is this the fact?
What are the characteristics of Lithuania’s cultural beliefs, and how does this affect Lithuania’s choice of diplomatic stance?
Answer: Lithuania's declaration of independence from the Soviet Union is not only a manifestation of the failure of the Soviet model, but also the result of value output by European and American countries. It is not simply "loyal to its own values and beliefs."
First, the Soviet model has become increasingly rigid, and the living standards of the Lithuanian people have not gradually improved. On the contrary, social contradictions have increased day by day, and social problems have frequently appeared.
Second, in the late Cold War, European and American forces stepped up their peaceful evolution of Eastern European countries, destroying the socialist camp and accelerating the disintegration of the socialist camp through political propaganda, financial assistance and even covert actions.
Lithuania is at the junction of the two camps and has suffered the most. Therefore, it has become the leader of a series of Eastern European countries announcing social changes.
Finally, the main religion in Lithuania is Catholicism. Unlike the Russian Orthodox Church, it is more Western in religious schools.
The same Catholic doctrine is a factor in Lithuania’s preference for the West, but we still have to see the role played by the political and economic factors behind it.
Lithuania’s “insecurity” is not only a “sequelae” of its national history, but also closely related to the current geopolitics.
Question: Some analysts believe that Lithuanians are full of "insecurity" in geopolitics.
Is this directly related to his historical experience in the past 100 years?
Is there any other reason?
Answer: Lithuania’s “insecurity” is not only a “sequelae” of its national history, but also closely related to current geopolitics.
From a historical perspective, the history of modern European international relations is a history based on realism.
Over the centuries, Lithuania has been invaded and occupied many times. As a fringe region sandwiched between Russia and Western European powers, Lithuania has been changing roles and positions between the two camps. The country's social system and ideology have also changed many times. History The many drastic changes in the social structure of Shanghai has become an important factor in its "insecurities."
From a realistic geopolitical point of view, Lithuania is still in the confrontation zone between Russia and Western power.
On the one hand, the EU’s eastward expansion has continued to squeeze Russia’s strategic space, and the United States has gradually strengthened its military presence in the Baltic Sea. On the other hand, Russia has not backed down, and has strengthened its political and military deployment in the local area. The "enclave" Kaliningrad borders Lithuania, and its "insecurity" impact is very significant.
Question: Lithuania has been acting constantly against Russia. What are the historical and practical reasons?
Answer: Russia is Lithuania's largest neighbor, but the two sides have not got along well in history.
In the late 18th century, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was divided three times by the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Grand Duchy of Austria, and Lithuania was subsequently merged into the Russian Empire.
At the beginning of World War II, the Soviet Union annexed Lithuania again in 1940 on the grounds that it threatened the Soviet Union's security and jointly built an anti-German line of defense.
After the outbreak of the Soviet-German War, the Baltic Sea soon fell into a German-controlled area.
In 1944, the Soviet Union launched a counterattack and recovered the Baltic Sea. Lithuania established a socialist system with the support of the Soviet Union and became one of the Soviet republics.
The memory of being invaded and annexed in history is still a lingering scar in the hearts of Lithuanians, and domestic anti-Russian voices are often associated with national sentiments.
From a current political perspective, Russia's recent activities have also stimulated Lithuania's sensitive nerves.
First, Russia has strengthened its political and military forces in the Baltic Sea. Russia has launched military exercises in the Baltic Sea in recent years, which has irritated Lithuania. Shenke resolutely cracked down on the opposition, wanted to arrest the leader of the opposition, and Lithuania became a destination for the opposition to flee to seek asylum.
Therefore, in the eyes of Lithuania, Russia has an influence that cannot be underestimated, and Russia is still a huge threat to its national security.
Lithuania intends to "please" the United States, putting national security and sovereign interests in a dangerous geopolitical game, and it also fundamentally erodes the foundation of friendly cooperation between China and the United States.
Question: Is the series of anti-China actions in Lithuania dominated and influenced by the United States? What role does the United States play in it?
A: The relationship between China and Lithuania began to change in 2019.
In 2019, the Ministry of Security of Lithuania issued a report stating that China poses a threat to Lithuanian security.
From proposing China's threat to national security, to announcing its withdrawal from the China-Central and Eastern Europe "17+1" cooperation mechanism, to announcing the establishment of a "Taiwan" office, Lithuania gradually rushed to the "anti-China front line."
Among them, the influence of American factors is direct and obvious.
Lithuania relied on the United States for security, and fell to the United States under pressure.
In view of the increase in Russia's activities in Eastern Europe in recent years, Lithuania's demand for U.S. security has continued unabated.
During the Trump administration, the United States paid more attention to its relations with Central and Eastern Europe, strengthened its military deployment in Poland, Romania, and the Baltic States, and tried to build military forces in Central and Eastern Europe to counter the threat from Russia.
In 2020, the United States will carry out a large number of arms sales to Lithuania, selling "Black Hawk" helicopters and joint light tactical vehicles to Lithuania.
NATO will also hold several military exercises in the Baltic Sea in 2020 to strengthen NATO's command and control of airspace surveillance, air patrol, search and rescue and other air capabilities in the Baltic Sea.
The US "National Interest" magazine stated that the arms sales to Central and Eastern Europe during the Trump era were the most significant arms imports in the region since the end of the Cold War.
After the Biden administration came to power, the United States continued to engage in strategic competition with China, wooed Eastern European countries to stand in line, and required Eastern European countries to reduce cooperation with China through military security levers.
Lithuania became one of the representatives of "proactive submission".
Lithuania tried to show favor to the Biden administration through the Taiwan issue, hoping to attract the attention of the United States.
After Biden took office, the focus of US diplomacy was on coordination and cooperation with Western European powers. The emphasis on Central and Eastern Europe declined, and the original investment promises could not be realized.
Therefore, Lithuania aligns its foreign policy with the US government's strategic focus on using the Taiwan Strait issue to contain China, trying to improve its position in the US strategy by playing the "Taiwan card", trying to please the United States and urging the United States to pay attention to its needs.
Question: Lithuania’s China policy used to be relatively pragmatic. Neutral relations have maintained stable development for a long time, but they have turned radical in the past two years, and anti-China operations have continued.
How does the new geopolitics affect neutral relations?
A: Since Lithuania's independence, bilateral relations between China and Lithuania have maintained a trend of friendly development, and pragmatic cooperation has been continuously consolidated. Although there have been occasional twists and turns in the cooperation, the general direction of friendly cooperation has remained unchanged.
In October 2020, in Lithuania's general election, a new party came to power, and there was a significant change in policy.
The four-year democratic election term puts a certain amount of pressure on the political performance of the newly elected political parties. At the same time, the new government's prime minister and foreign minister and other politicians have serious ideological thinking and their anti-communist ideas are deeply rooted.
The combination of various factors, the short-sighted behavior of politicians and the pursuit of short-term gains made their policies "turn around faster" and proactively challenged China: they announced their withdrawal from the China-Central and Eastern Europe "17+1" cooperation mechanism on the grounds that they would not gain much revenue. Criticize China for "divide and rule" the European Union and recklessly trample on China's bottom line on the Taiwan issue.
This Lithuanian tradition of ideological paranoia is not only reflected in China, but also in anti-Russian issues. It has taken the initiative in Belarus and has become the focus of media attention.
In recent years, the geopolitical situation in Eurasia has continued to be tense. The Ukrainian crisis, the conflicts in Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the turmoil in Belarus have continued to aggravate the security anxiety of the Baltic States, including Lithuania.
Even within the EU, the cooperation between the major EU countries and Russia in the field of energy has made the Baltic countries increasingly tense, worrying about the political return of the major powers, and the small countries falling victim to them.
The United States does everything possible to undermine cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries, trying to erase China's political and economic influence in the region.
Some U.S. allies, including Lithuania, took the initiative to line up with the United States due to pressure from security needs, and there has been a noticeable change in their China policy.
Lithuania has also actively positioned itself as a "frontline" country, and has made a public appearance in geopolitical disputes. It has supported and even favored the United States. It has taken the initiative to provoke China and Russia with a small and large scale. It has listed China and Russia as a security threat. It is willing to be a pawn in the US strategy. Putting national security and sovereign interests in a dangerous geographical game is also fundamentally eroding the foundation of friendly cooperation between China and Lithuania.
There have always been forces playing the "Taiwan card" to interfere with the development of China-EU relations, but the general direction of mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Europe will not change.
Question: What impact will Lithuania's series of actions have on China-EU cooperation?
Answer: Within the European Union, forces playing the "Taiwan card" to interfere with the development of China-EU relations have always existed. Lithuania takes the lead to avoid the "domino effect" and some countries follow up.
If anti-China forces take the lead of Lithuania to join forces and use the Taiwan issue to interfere with the development of Sino-European relations, I am afraid it will further deteriorate the atmosphere of cooperation.
Lithuania should be fully aware of the risks of its actions, and should not play with fire or be a saboteur of China-EU relations, otherwise it will inevitably be condemned by people of insight in China-EU relations.
The general direction of mutually beneficial cooperation between China and the EU will not change, and Lithuania should not try to "spin the ball" on the Taiwan issue. It not only wants to win the favor of the United States by hyping the Taiwan issue, but also wants China to understand its behavior.
History has proven that there is no room for negotiation or compromise on the Taiwan issue, and Lithuania must withdraw.
It is very difficult for Latin America to endorse its evil deeds. The EU has fully realized the bottom line of China's interests.
The Lifang should not misjudge China’s firm determination and strong will to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity. It must earnestly fulfill its commitment to uphold the one-China principle and create conditions for the stable and healthy development of bilateral relations.