Motuzas says lawmakers overreached with planned China meeting

Seimas Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Remigijus Motuzas says a planned meeting between Lithuanian lawmakers and Chinese representatives in Brussels was not coordinated, LRT reported. He said such initiatives should be carefully considered because China is a difficult and unpredictable partner that may demand concessions from Lithuania.

“I think our colleagues may have slightly overreached,” Motuzas, a Social Democrat, said on the ELTA kampas programme. He questioned whether the visit would help normalise diplomatic relations with China.

“China is a difficult partner that demands certain concessions from Lithuania, and we will certainly not make them in the near future,” he said, adding that he hoped the lawmakers would recognise this during the visit.

Motuzas said foreign policy initiatives involving controversial states that could pose security, competitive or other threats should be coordinated among all parliamentary political forces. He also pointed to the risk of hybrid attacks and said China closely analyses developments in Lithuania.

Last week, news portal Delfi reported that members of the Seimas temporary group “For the normalisation of diplomatic relations with China to the level of EU member states” planned to visit Brussels in early September and meet Chinese representatives.

The group’s chairman, Ignas Vėgėlė, confirmed the planned trip and said the meeting was still being arranged. He could not say who would meet the Lithuanian delegation. The lawmakers plan to use parliamentary funds, but Vėgėlė said they would pay for the trip themselves if the Seimas office did not provide funding.

Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius said every lawmaker had a free mandate to act. However, he said it was important to maintain a consistent state position on foreign policy and avoid actions that could damage Lithuania’s reputation.

Lithuania’s relations with China deteriorated sharply after the Taiwanese Representative Office opened in Vilnius in late 2021. During the ensuing tensions, China’s Foreign Ministry officially downgraded the level of diplomatic relations with Lithuania.

Lithuania’s embassy in China currently operates remotely and on a limited basis from Vilnius, meaning consular services are not provided in China. A draft programme of Sinkevičius’s government calls for normalising diplomatic relations with China to the level of diplomatic representation maintained with other European Union member states.