Nausėda says China ties can improve before EU Council presidency

President Gitanas Nausėda says Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius is setting a realistic timeframe for progress in normalising Lithuania’s relations with China, LRT reported.

Nausėda said Lithuania could see either final improvements or interim results and indications that relations were gradually being restored before the country assumes the presidency of the European Union Council.

Sinkevičius told Žinių radijas on Wednesday that he trusted Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys’s diplomatic abilities and hoped the government’s goal of normalising relations with China would be achieved before Lithuania’s presidency in the first half of 2027.

Nausėda said efforts were under way to gradually restore relations with Beijing, first by re-establishing diplomatic representation at a lower level and later at ambassadorial level. The current draft of the government programme calls for Lithuania’s diplomatic relations with China to be normalised to the level maintained by other EU member states.

Budrys said Lithuania would pursue its pragmatic interests while respecting the principles of international law. Nausėda has previously described Budrys as a good foreign minister, but said his continued position would also depend on his success in normalising relations with China and securing agreements with the Taiwanese.

Relations between Vilnius and Beijing deteriorated significantly after Taiwan’s representative office opened in Lithuania at the end of 2021. China considers Taiwan a province of China and says it has no right to establish representative offices in countries with which Beijing maintains official relations. China subsequently imposed strict diplomatic and economic sanctions on Lithuania.

Nausėda says Russia will not destabilise the West

Nausėda also expressed solidarity with Germany over what Russia is suspected of being a hybrid attack in Leipzig, saying Moscow would not succeed in destabilising the West because it was isolated.

He said Russia closely monitored political cycles in democratic societies and acted where they were most vulnerable, but added that democratic countries would remain united and support one another.

Germany accused Russia on Tuesday of attempting to carry out a hybrid attack at Leipzig’s strategic airport last month using a drone carrying explosives. Berlin announced diplomatic countermeasures, while NATO, the EU and Lithuanian leaders promised full solidarity with Germany.