Kubilius says China must decide whether to restore diplomatic ties
Sunday 15th November 2026 on 10:30 in
Lithuania
European Commissioner Andrius Kubilius says China should decide whether to restore diplomatic relations with Lithuania, LRT reported, questioning why the issue has become the subject of debate in Lithuania.
“I don’t really understand why Lithuania is starting this internal discussion,” Kubilius told reporters in Brussels this week. He said trade between Lithuania and China was not falling and that the figures were growing.
Kubilius said he understood China to have severed diplomatic relations with Lithuania. China did not fully cut ties, however, but downgraded their level in November 2021.
The European Commission is discussing how to reduce Europe’s reliance on China in key areas, including the defence industry, Kubilius said. He added that the EU would consider measures at the Defence Council next week to reduce dependence on Chinese components, which he said made the industry vulnerable. Funding is being allocated to encourage defence companies to produce key weapons systems without Chinese components, he said.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry delegation and diplomats from China’s mission to the European Union visited Lithuania this week. They met a group of Lithuanian MPs seeking to normalise diplomatic relations with China to the level maintained by other EU member states. MP Ignas Vėgėlė said after the meeting that Chinese representatives were ready to discuss restoring ties.
Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry said the sides had agreed to continue consultations. Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys described the meeting as one of several ongoing discussions and said Lithuania would decide on next steps afterwards.
Relations between Vilnius and Beijing worsened after Lithuania opened a Taiwanese representative office in late 2021. China considers Taiwan a province and says it cannot establish representative offices in countries with which China has official relations. China imposed diplomatic and economic sanctions on Lithuania in response. A draft of the Lithuanian government programme currently proposes normalising diplomatic relations with China to the level of representation in other EU member states.