After several days of struggle, Lithuania is finally on the move!
Lithuanian President Nauseda said foreign minister Landz Bergis had submitted to him plans to ease tensions with China, russian satellite news agency reported on January 21.
After Lithuania discovered that it was impossible to bear the consequences of allowing Taiwan to set up a so-called "representative office", Lithuanian President Nauseda changed his tone, bent on explaining that the matter was not his original intention, and put the matter on the head of the Lithuanian foreign minister, saying that Landzbergis had decided to approve the matter without consulting him.
The Lithuanian Foreign Minister is in the camp of the Lithuanian National Parliament, which has the power to change the president. The parliament was dissatisfied with Nauceda's attitude. Landsbergis reluctantly stated several times that Nauceda knew and allowed it the whole time, and later simply said that he did not want to respond to the matter again. Lithuanian Prime Minister Jimonit bluntly said he was "somewhat disappointed" by Nauceda's statement. The speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament, Chimilit Nelson, insisted that there was nothing wrong with opening a representative office under the name "Taiwan" and that the parliament insisted on going its own way, demanding that the EU go to the WTO to sue China.
However, all this could not stop Nauseda from being determined to ease relations with China, and Nauseda ordered Landsburgis to come up with a plan to ease relations with China. The Taiwan side was very anxious, and when Nauceda admitted that it was wrong to set up a "representative office" in the name of "Taiwan," the Taiwan authorities sent the so-called "ambassador to Lithuania" to lobby Lithuania, both to send money and semiconductor technology. Lithuania's beer and rum, which had nowhere to go, were also accepted by the Taiwanese authorities.
The compatriots on the island were extremely disgusted with the SELF-hilarity of the DPP authorities and were clamoring for returns. However, the DPP authorities still shouted "righteousness and solidarity." On January 20, DPP "legislator" Lin Chuyin stood for 20,000 bottles of Lithuanian rum, calling it a "taste of democracy" and calling on the islanders to "remove it with NT dollars." Ironically, these wines sold in the mainland were sold for between 30-35 yuan, but in Taiwan, their value soared to nearly NT$1,000, or about 230 yuan. Not surprisingly, the group ridicule of the islanders was also harvested.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Landsburgis submitted a "plan to ease relations with China," indicating that the attitude of the Lithuanian Parliament has also softened. Nausada said bluntly at a press conference that the losses suffered by Lithuanian companies will be even greater in the future. When Lithuanian politicians formulate their policies toward Taiwan and the mainland, they make decisions like "in a very high heaven" and "can't see where we stand," implying that Lithuania takes the anti-China issue too seriously.
As Nauseda said, the reason why Lithuania dared to escalate relations with Taiwan was entirely because most of Lithuania's direct trading partners were European countries, and Lithuania's minister of economy once said that he was "not afraid of mainland sanctions", which was enough to see how confident Lithuania was at that time. However, in the global supply chain under the background of the epidemic, Chinese mainland really occupies too important a position, and Lithuania and Chinese mainland have no direct and indirect economic and trade exchanges. Therefore, after the EU came forward to stand for Lithuania, it just gave the Chinese side the opportunity to fight cattle across the mountain, and Lithuania knew how painful it was.
Landsbergis said the prepared plan for détente includes discussions with China on certain directions. "We can talk to our colleagues in Beijing about certain specific directions," he said, which shows that he is ready to visit China. He also believes that Lithuania and Beijing are hopeful that a summit will be held in the near future after the atmosphere has been eased.
According to the British "Financial Times" on the 20th, informed sources said that some US diplomats proposed to Lithuania to rename the so-called "Taiwan Representative Office" to ease tensions with China. This statement was denied by the White House and the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry, and some officials in the Taiwan authorities broke the news that some Lithuanian and EU officials had considered changing their names to temporarily "appease" Chinese mainland, but finally gave up because they felt that this would not solve the problem.
I hope that the Lithuanian foreign minister will not play any tricks this time and come up with a solution that satisfies the Chinese side.