Vytautas Bruveris. The brave Lithuanians started calling for help

Before you raise your sword, make sure that your back is covered. Did our government really do all this homework before going to war with China Vytautas Bruveris writes in lrytas.lt?

Last week, China went ahead and removed the Lithuanian state from its customs systems, leaving all our businesses, which have a lot of business in that country, hanging in the air.

This is to be expected from the Chinese, who are furious about opening a Taiwanese representative office in Vilnius – especially as they have already started to sniff out Lithuanian business. However, the reaction of our government to this demarche seems ambiguous.

On the lips of the Conservative leader and Foreign Minister G.Landsbergis, the government states that this was to be expected. But, on the other hand, the head of the diplomacy has begun to call for the intervention of the European Commission, which is responsible for the trade policy of the entire European Union.

The question immediately arises: was Brussels consulted beforehand about opening the Taiwanese representative office and the possible consequences? If not, why not? Obviously, the USA is the primary country for whose attention, sympathy, and patronage Lithuania has started this war with China.

Of course, Washington’s aid to our business, which seems to have been agreed upon, is important. However, does this mean that it is worth throwing up our hands at Brussels, as the current situation seems to be reminding us?

Not only that but both the Minister for Foreign Affairs and other officials are declaring that the erasure of Lithuania from the Chinese map will cost our business several million euros, which the Lithuanian budget will quickly compensate. Because those of our businessmen who had the sense and the judgement have long since fled from China to other markets.

And Brussels needs to be dragged into this story, as if only to support Vilnius in its war with Beijing, in the naive hope that China might even be wiped off the EU map.

If this is the plan of the official Vilnius, we do not know who we are trolling more – Beijing or Brussels. Or maybe Lithuanian business, which has or has not been able to escape from China?