Lithuania hosts NATO summit, defies Beijing with strategic Taiwan ties

FPI / July 12, 2023

Geostrategy-Direct

When it comes to standing against China in the European Union, Lithuania is leading the way.

Lithuania calls trade ties with Taiwan one of its “strategic priorities,” in a move that’s likely to infuriate Chinese leader Xi Jinping. / Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

As it prepares to host the NATO leaders’ summit, the Lithuanian government of Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė has released a document detailing a new strategy on the Indo-Pacific which defies the communist regime in Beijing and focuses on strong economic ties with Taiwan.

The document states: “Military support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine or using force or coercion to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait are red lines.

“It is crucial to work with Indo-Pacific societies in order to curtail the spread of Russian disinformation bolstered by China and China’s informational pressure against Taiwan.”

The Lithuanian government document — which calls Taiwan’s trade ties one of its “strategic priorities” — was released as Brussels and Beijing enter a new phase of tension over trade.

The Netherlands recently decided to block exports of advanced semiconductor machines to China, prompting Beijing to roll out export controls on critical minerals.

Lithuania goes even further than the EU’s mildly critical language, describing China as a “global economic and military power that has consolidated ever-intensifying autocratic control methods domestically and is exercising an increasingly aggressive foreign policy aimed at projecting its power externally.”

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