“The United States fully, as discussed here in the talks, (…) understands the need to have diplomatic representation. This is not something that inherently carries a value burden,” said the head of Lithuanian diplomacy, visiting Washington, to BNS on Thursday.
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“We talked about how we together – Lithuania, the European Union, and the United States – should ensure economic security from actors like China, which manipulates supply conditions, industrial production surpluses, distorts the market, imposes restrictions on access to its market, and so on. How to level the entire operating field,” emphasized K. Budrys.
He indicated that Lithuania and the US are “complete allies” on these issues, which is why Vilnius joined the critical metals agreement and is also seeking to join the “Pax Silica” declaration on advanced technology supply chains and “will continue to work in that direction.”
“Politics is the essence. Goals are the essence. How we implement them, what tools we have, each country must decide for itself. Lithuania must have the full diplomatic arsenal. And diplomatic representation is one of the main things. We have embassies in Russia and Belarus, so I am starting to completely not understand the questioning of that very goal,” said the head of Lithuanian diplomacy.
K. Budrys stated that the US and Lithuania’s goals regarding China coincide “through the prism of economic security.”
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“Of course, their (the US – BNS) agenda is much broader than ours. In the United States today, this is very much felt, awaiting (next week’s – BNS) visit of Chinese President Xi to Washington. There will, of course, be many issues to discuss, but what is related to strategic sectors, technologies that will shape the world’s future for generations ahead, we are in one bloc, and not with China,” emphasized the foreign minister.
BNS wrote that bilateral relations between Vilnius and Beijing deteriorated in 2021 when Lithuania allowed Taiwan to open a Taiwanese representative office.
Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius’s government program promises to seek normalization of diplomatic relations with China to the level of representation that other EU countries have, but so far this has not yielded results.
The head of the Cabinet of Ministers said at the beginning of September that he expects progress from K. Budrys in this area before Lithuania’s EU Council presidency, and also wants to see a clear action plan.
