Budrys says China and Taiwan ties have become a domestic issue

Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys says debate over the country’s relations with China and Taiwan has become primarily a domestic political issue, LRT reported Wednesday.

“I am convinced that this issue in Lithuania — our relations with China and Taiwan — is 80 percent a matter of domestic politics, not foreign policy,” Budrys told reporters after meeting the Seimas Foreign Affairs Committee. He said discussion had focused on assigning blame rather than addressing Lithuania’s interests, calling that approach “unserious.”

Opposition lawmakers had asked the committee to hear from Budrys after news outlet Delfi reported that the Foreign Ministry asked Taiwan’s representative office in Vilnius in September to change its name. According to the report, the ministry offered several bilateral economic agreements and the creation of a special envoy post for Taiwan in return, and asked for the name to be changed by October 1.

Budrys confirmed that a possible change to the office’s name had been discussed, but said it was not an ultimatum. He told the committee he had provided an overview of the meetings and negotiation process.

Budrys also confirmed that Chinese diplomats would meet Foreign Ministry representatives on Thursday. He said he expected neither a major breakthrough nor disappointment. The ministry described the meeting as part of regular consultations with China on the conditions and possibilities for accrediting diplomats in Vilnius and Beijing. It said Lithuania had made specific proposals to restore the work of diplomatic missions and remained open to dialogue.

Diplomatic relations between Lithuania and China deteriorated in autumn 2021, after Vilnius allowed Taiwan to open a representative office in the capital under the name Taiwanese Representative Office. Similar offices in other countries operate under the name Taipei. China downgraded its diplomatic representation in Lithuania, while Lithuania declined to issue new accreditations to Chinese diplomats. Since May last year, there have been no Chinese diplomats in Lithuania.