Seimas rejects Vėgėlė and Jankūnas travel request to meet Chinese representatives

LRT reported that the Seimas board on Wednesday rejected a request from lawmakers Ignas Vėgėlė and Rimas Jonas Jankūnas to receive official travel approval for meetings with Chinese representatives in the European Union.

Conservative lawmaker Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė questioned whether the planned meetings were coordinated with the Seimas Foreign Affairs Committee, the Foreign Ministry and the government. She said the trip could run counter to Lithuania’s interests.

Social Democrat Rasa Budbergytė also criticised the request to cover part of the travel costs from official business-trip funds and the remainder from parliamentary funds.

“Going on a business trip means that you should be travelling with a mission that should be coordinated with the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Foreign Ministry,” Budbergytė said, arguing that the request should not have been considered.

Seimas Speaker Juozas Olekas proposed rejecting the request. He said the lawmakers could travel to European Union territory, but would not do so as people delegated by the Seimas.

Vėgėlė and Jankūnas plan to visit Brussels from September 7 to 9. In mid-August, the news portal Delfi reported that lawmakers belonging to the temporary parliamentary group For the normalisation of diplomatic relations with China to the level of EU member states planned to visit Brussels and meet Chinese representatives.

Vėgėlė, who chairs the group, previously confirmed the planned trip and said that if the Seimas office did not provide funding, the lawmakers would pay for it themselves.

The group also includes Vitalijus Šeršniovas, Tadas Barauskas, Algirdas Butkevičius, Karolis Neimantas and Artūras Zuokas.

The source reported that the programmes of governments led by Gintautas Paluckas and Inga Ruginienė included plans to further develop economic and cultural ties with Taiwan. That provision was not included in the programme of the government led by Mindaugas Sinkevičius, which instead called for normalising diplomatic relations with China to the level of diplomatic representation maintained by other European Union countries.

Relations between Vilnius and Beijing deteriorated sharply after a Taiwanese representative office opened in Lithuania in late 2021. China considers Taiwan a province without the right to establish representative offices in countries with which Beijing maintains official relations. China responded to Lithuania’s decision with strict diplomatic and economic sanctions.