On Saturday, Lituania, a small nation of less than 2.8 million citizens, said that it was leaving China-led “17+1” with central and eastern European countries, and called on other countries to leave China’s 2012 forum to establish relations and influence.
On Saturday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabrielius Landsbergis told the AFP press agency that “Lithuania is no longer considered a 17+ 1 participant and is not involved in this initiative. In addition, he described the platform as “distinctive” from the perspective of the European Union, encouraged EU members to pursue “a 27+1 approach and contact with China far more successful,” stressing that “the strength and influence of Europe lies in its unity.”
For a while the announcement was underway. Lithuania has been increasingly suspect of China for some time, much like some other countries in the region. In 2019 Chinese spy first became a threat to its national security by the Baltic State.
“As Chinese economic and political ambitions grow in Lithuania and other NATO and EU countries, activities of the Chinese intelligence and security services become increasingly aggressive,” the State Security Department and the Second Investigation Department under the Defense Ministry said in their National Threat Assessment 2019 report, according to The Baltic Times.
His latest paper, published in February of this year, also scathingly charged Pekins with the attempt to manipulate the Covid pandemic to dislodge and boost its reputation perceived adversaries. A number of weeks before its security assessment had been released, Vilnius already indicated its country’s deception, when Prime Secretary Ingrida Šimonytė requested her Transport Minister to sit before the camera at the video-link China-CEEC summit. For the first time, President Xi Jinping spoke to the summit.
Certainly, Lithuania was not the only party of “17+1” to have moderated its aspirations from a group that was formerly supposed to contribute to the rush of Chinese infrastructure and investment. Five other countries have suggested a diminished interest in the Party, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Romania and Slovenia, represented by the ministers of the high-profile summit of Xi Jinping in February.
Chinese Delhi watchers are saying that the move Lithuania is an indication of a deteriorating relationship among China and the EU – it announced its decision to open a trade bureau in Taiwan, spoken out against human rights abusses by Peking and blocked China’s airport X-ray inspection equipment.
