Unable to bear it, Lithuania is finally going to give in to the Taiwan issue, and President Nauseda has publicly stated that in order to stabilize relations with China, it is considering changing the name of the "Taiwan Representative Office". What should we make of this?
According to a report by Reference News Network on May 9, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda recently said that it is necessary for Lithuania to change the name of the so-called "Taiwan Representative Office" set up by the Taiwan authorities in the Lithuanian capital in order to stabilize relations with China.
In the report, Nauseda cites experts as saying that the current name has problems with the translation, giving the impression that it refers to "Taiwan" rather than "Taiwanese" or "Taiwanese".
President of Lithuania Nauseda
The implication of his remarks is naturally to justify Lithuania's previous disregard of Chinese mainland's opposition and its desire to rename this representative office "Taiwan" just to express that it means "Taiwanese" and not to oppose Chinese mainland and deliberately cause trouble.
This is clearly just a reason for the Lithuanian president to propose a change of name. As a mature politician and an incident that caused a great deal of turmoil at that time, it is impossible for the Lithuanian government, including Nauseda himself, not to be unaware of the political implications of the so-called "Taiwan representative office" in Lithuania that they asked the Taiwan authorities to set up.
As early as November 2021, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the mainland pointed out that Lithuania's approval of the establishment of the so-called "Taiwan Representative Office" by the Taiwan authorities pointed out that such an act is to create "one China, one Taiwan" in the world, which flagrantly violates the one-China principle, and also betrays the political commitment made by Lithuania when the two countries established diplomatic relations, and seriously undermines China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China
What happened later is well known, and because of the name, diplomatic relations between China and Lithuania have been affected, which is the root cause of Nauseda's current quest to change the name, claiming to want to stabilize relations with China.
First of all, judging from the possibility of whether this matter has been realized, the current support rate of Lithuanian President Nauseda is about 35%-45%, ranking first among all candidates, in other words, Nauseda is very likely to be re-elected as Lithuanian president, and once he is re-elected, then according to the current viewpoint, it is possible to change the previous erroneous practice of Lithuania in allowing the Taiwan authorities to set up a so-called "representative office."
But the problem is, it's just a possibility. Because Lithuania is a parliamentary republic, also known as the "semi-presidential system", in other words, as the president, Nauseda can actually only be half of the lord at most, and the other half is the Lithuanian prime minister.
Lithuanian Parliament
Now that the two major factions in Lithuanian politics are in a fierce fight, it is difficult to say whether Nauseda will be able to balance the power of his deputies and end this political struggle even if he succeeds in his re-election.
Even, to some extent, Nauseda is now at a disadvantage, which is why he threw out such an opinion and tried to seek support. Moreover, even if Nauseda is re-elected and holds most of the power at the same time, it remains to be said whether his proposal can stabilize relations with China.
From the standpoint of Chinese mainland, Lithuania's actions in those years set a very bad precedent, and China has also taken some countermeasures against this.
On the one hand, it shows that although the Taiwan authorities and the United States, which are constantly making small moves behind the scenes, have always used some means that have no way to stand on the Taiwan issue to interfere in the Taiwan issue, the overall situation of the times is unstoppable, China's rise is unstoppable, and the Taiwan region is a part of China's territory.
"One Country, Two Systems, Reunifying China"
With the size of Chinese mainland today, any country that wants to confront China on such a sensitive issue involving China's core interests will face an unbearable burden, and will eventually be unsustainable, and then seek corrections.
Lithuania's own initiative to seek to correct its mistakes is the best proof of this.
And Lithuania has spent a few years making such a farce, and now it wants to change the wrong name, which can also send a signal to other countries, that is, if it wants to be vague on this issue and harm China's interests, then even if it has the support of the United States, it will eventually have to slap itself in the face, and how to clean up the trouble it creates.
However, on the other hand, judging from Lithuania and even some small countries in the world with speculative psychology, they regard the Taiwan issue as a springboard for repeatedly jumping sideways between China and the United States, trying to seek benefits from both sides, and when they cannot get a bargain from China, they use the Taiwan Strait issue to curry favor with the United States and get assistance from the United States.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Landsbergis, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
When the United States does not provide aid, it changes the name back and tries to seek benefits from China, which is of course not feasible.
To put it in layman's terms, from China's point of view, Lithuania wants to correct its mistakes and reaffirm its commitment to uphold the "one-China principle." Of course, we have no opinion, but if it wants to use this kind of change to change its mistakes and seek benefits in exchange for China, it absolutely cannot agree to it.
At most, in the trade with Lithuania, if you don't take the initiative to exclude them, you will already be very face-saving. As for wanting to change the so-called name to seek Chinese investment, or even directly ask China for assistance, that is wishful thinking.
Chinese mainland's firm attitude has also made some small countries with speculative psychology understand that if they try to play with fire on issues involving China's core interests, they will only harm their own interests in the end.
Lithuania
Finally, from the perspective of cross-strait relations, in order for China to achieve reunification, it will ultimately depend on the mainland's own strength and whether it can cut off the black hand extended by the United States, an extraterritorial force.
For a thorn like Lithuania, and even the few small pocket-sized countries that still maintain so-called "diplomatic relations" with the Taiwan authorities, some of their murmurs are actually irrelevant, because more countries in the world recognize and support the one-China principle.
Of course, only when we always hold the key to resolving the Taiwan issue firmly in our hands and firmly hold the dominant power in the hands of the mainland, will no other extraterritorial forces or inexplicable unrelated persons be able to exert an impact on cross-strait relations and China's march toward complete reunification, and only then will we be able to truly cut off these black hands and thoroughly realize the reunification of the motherland.