Lithuania proposes reopening diplomatic ties with China at chargé d’affaires level

Lithuania’s foreign minister, Kęstutis Budrys, has declined to comment on remarks by Remigijus Motuzas, chair of the Seimas Foreign Affairs Committee, regarding a proposal to restore diplomatic representation with China at the chargé d’affaires level, citing the need for discretion in diplomacy.

Speaking to journalists in the Seimas on Thursday, Budrys said he would not confirm or discuss specific steps, considerations, or stages in Lithuania’s relations with China. “The government’s programme sets clear guidelines—we want to restore diplomatic cooperation with China. But how we do it is a matter of discreet diplomacy. The more we discuss this publicly, the harder it becomes to achieve anything discreetly,” he stated.

Budrys emphasised that planning depends on the other side and that Lithuania’s relations with China are currently “significantly burdened and poisoned.” He reiterated that public discussions on the topic only complicate and delay progress.

On Wednesday, Motuzas told Žinių Radijas that Lithuania had made a concession to Beijing, agreeing to the establishment of a chargé d’affaires office in the country. “We know that the Chinese embassy left Lithuania because they proposed setting up a chargé d’affaires office, but we refused. Now Lithuania has proposed that, at this stage, it agrees to establish that office,” Motuzas said.

Conservative MP Žygimantas Pavilionis, deputy chair of the Seimas Foreign Affairs Committee, criticised the proposal, stating that the issue had not been discussed in the committee. “Instead of focusing our energy on Washington, we are directing it towards the main strategic adversary of the US, a systemic opponent of the EU and NATO. I don’t understand the logic or priorities—why, during a war with Russia, we are putting all our eggs in the basket of the enabler of this war,” Pavilionis told ELTA.

He warned that China could exploit Lithuania’s perceived weakness, demanding further concessions, including the closure of Taiwan’s representative office and the abandonment of cooperation with democratic and technologically advanced Indo-Pacific states. “We are simply crawling, apologising, into the main communist concentration camp in the world,” Pavilionis said.