The US and Germany on Wednesday backed Lithuania in its spat with China, saying the pressure exerted by Beijing against the tiny Baltic nation was unwarranted, while China yesterday countered that Washington was using Vilnius and Taipei “to contain” Beijing.
Lithuania last year let the Taiwanese office in Vilnius bear the name “Taiwanese,” instead of “Taipei,” which many countries use to avoid offending Beijing.
Lithuania’s move infuriated Beijing, which withdrew its ambassador to Vilnius and expelled the Lithuanian ambassador to Beijing.
Photo: AP
“We have immediate concern about the government of China’s attempts to bully Lithuania, a country of fewer than 3 million people,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after a meeting in Washington with his German counterpart.
Blinken said that China had been pushing European and US companies to stop building products with components made in Lithuania or risk losing access to the Chinese market.
“This isn’t just about Lithuania, but about how every country in the world should be able to determine its own foreign policy free from this kind of coercion,” he said, adding that the US would work with its allies to diversify supply chains and counter “all forms of economic blackmail.”
German Minister of Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock said that “we as Europeans stand in solidarity at Lithuania’s side.”
US Trade Representative Katherine Tai (戴琪) told Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabrielius Landsbergis during a call on Wednesday that the Baltic nation had Washington’s support to counter what they called China’s “economic coercion.”
The two officials pointed out that the US and the EU “as democratic market economies, share a number of core values and principles that we need to defend internationally.”
Lithuania faces unofficial trade hurdles with China, which denies it is blocking the nation’s exports. The EU has raised the issue with the WTO.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) said Washington was using the Baltic state to “use Taiwan to contain China.”
“The US side has defended Lithuania’s erroneous act of creating ‘one China, one Taiwan,’ and attempted to put together a small clique condoning the Taiwan independence forces,” Wang said at a daily briefing.
Wang also blasted Taiwan’s move to create a US$200 million investment fund for Lithuania to offset China’s economic reprisals as “dollar diplomacy,” adding that “soliciting foreign support to Taiwan independence will only lead to a dead end.”
Taiwan said it is ready to help Lithuania in resupplying trade.
“There are more than 120 sea containers — at least 1.5 million euros [US$1.69 million] worth — blocked by Beijing. We’re ready to take all of those and help Lithuanian companies,” Representative to Lithuania Eric Huang (黃鈞耀) said.
Presidential Office spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka on Wednesday announced the fund on Twitter.
“The way to confront bullying is not to give up, it’s to work together,” she wrote.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
‘NARWHAL’: The indigenous submarine completed its harbor acceptance test recently and is now under heavy guard as it undergoes tests in open waters, a source said The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, yesterday began sea trials, sailing out of the Port of Kaohsiung, a military source said. Also known as the “Narwhal,” the vessel departed from CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard at about 8am, where it had been docked. More than 10 technicians and military personnel were on deck, with several others standing atop the sail. After recently completing its harbor acceptance test, the vessel has started a series of sea-based trials, including tests of its propulsion and navigational systems, while partially surfaced, the source said. The Hai Kun underwent tests in the port from
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he