Landsbergis says Lithuania is carrying out China’s demands on Taiwan

Former Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said Lithuania was acting as an intermediary for China by urging Taiwan to change the name of its representative office in Vilnius, in an interview with LRT.

Landsbergis was responding to reports that Foreign Ministry officials had given the head of the Taiwanese Representative Office an informal document urging it to change its name by October 1. He said the request reflected China’s demands and risked weakening Lithuania’s standing with Taiwan, its partners and its opponents.

“From a state that shapes its own foreign policy, at least in this context, we are becoming a state that carries out the foreign policy demands of a country that is unfriendly to us,” Landsbergis said. He warned that Lithuania’s opponents might later describe it as “a state that breaks.”

President Gitanas Nausėda had criticised the former minister earlier in the week, saying a foreign minister should not have been able to agree with another country by exchanging letters to open a representative office without coordinating with other state institutions. Landsbergis declined to respond directly to the president.

He said he saw no problem with the government’s stated aim of restoring relations with China, but said doing so meant taking responsibility for what China might demand. Restoring diplomatic relations, he said, was a two-way process.

Landsbergis also said the interests of the current US administration did not necessarily align with European security interests. He expressed disappointment with the decision to postpone universal conscription until 2032.