Lithuania’s foreign minister may face dismissal if China ties aren’t restored, says Veryga

Lithuania’s relations with China will determine whether the country’s designated foreign minister, Kęstutis Budrys, remains in his post, according to Aurelijus Veryga, leader of the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union (LVŽS).

Speaking to Žinių Radijas radio on Tuesday, Veryga said that if diplomatic ties with Beijing are not restored by the New Year, designated Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius will have the right to decide whether there were objective reasons for the failure.

“This was an issue that could have affected the foreign minister’s position. But, as I understand from conversations, the minister has apparently promised to implement the government programme and coalition agreement’s provision to restore diplomatic relations with China to the level that other EU member states have,” Veryga said.

“It will be the prime minister’s right to decide whether the reasons for not restoring [relations] were objective or whether the minister did not do it intentionally, not wanting to do it,” he added when asked what would happen if diplomatic relations are not restored by the New Year.

Veryga noted that foreign policy is not solely the responsibility of the foreign minister, but also involves the prime minister, the president, and the Seimas Foreign Affairs Committee. He expressed hope for progress, as no results have been achieved in the past eight months.

Last week, Budrys shared classified information with members of the Seimas Foreign Affairs Committee, stating that the issue of bilateral relations with China would depend on the new government. At the time, committee chairman Remigijus Motuzas said there had been some positive shifts in Lithuania-China relations and that Beijing was now willing to meet with Lithuanian representatives.

However, Sinkevičius, while forming the government, said he could not guarantee that Budrys would remain foreign minister. His future in the post has been publicly linked to the China issue.

President Gitanas Nausėda has also said that the minister’s future in the post depends on his contribution to normalising relations with China and implementing agreements with Taiwan.

ELTA recalls that Lithuania’s decision to open a Taiwanese representative office in Vilnius at the end of 2021 significantly strained relations with Beijing, which considers Taiwan a Chinese province with no right to establish representative offices in countries with which China maintains official relations. In response, China imposed strict diplomatic and economic sanctions on Lithuania. In February 2022, the European Commission filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO), stating that China was applying discriminatory trade practices against Lithuania, as trade restrictions introduced under the pretext of hygiene reasons reduced Lithuania’s exports by 80% that year. However, in December last year, the EU decided to withdraw the complaint from the WTO. Amid the tension between Vilnius and Beijing, China’s foreign ministry also officially downgraded the level of diplomatic relations with Lithuania.