In August, Vilnius authorized Taiwan’s request to set up a “Taiwanese” representative office in the country. Using that name offended Beijing, which insists the island is part of China and prefers “Taipei” to be used instead. ... China recalled its ambassador, ..., and insisted that Lithuania withdraw its envoy. Freight train services connecting Vilnius under China's Belt and Road Initiative were suspended; so were the new licenses that Lithuanian food exporters were applying for. ...
It is time, he said, for the EU to move beyond defensive trade policies against China. "Wandel durch Handel, the German formula of change through trade, doesn't work,” he added. “When we are facing an era where our geopolitical considerations will come to the fore, economic interpenetration can become a liability, or something that can be exploited, instrumentalized or even weaponized."
It doesn't work when the power relationship shifts in favor of the authoritarian nation and that nation ceases to see much use for your "rules-based" system. China has used existing WTO rules very selectively for advantage while violating other important rules (on investment and intellectual property) with impunity. A small and poor nation can get away with that because nobody much cares.
Lithuania's size is quite an asset. Unlike, say, Vietnam, they don't live under Chinese military threat or economic domination. They can leverage their EU status in many ways, allowing in a small Chinese economic presence while using the Chinese "threat" to extract favors from their larger EU partners.
Posts: 12759 | Location: Williamsburg, VA | Registered: 19 July 2005
There's a nice little documentary titled The Other Dream Team, about the Lithuanian basketball team and how they turned the sport into a battle with the Soviets/Russians. It includes some pretty amazing footage of what happened in 1991, when Lithuania declared its independence from the USSR.
Lithuania's version of Tiananmen Square.
quote:
“It happens everywhere. I go to buy a lunch box and when they hear I am from Lithuania, everyone starts clapping,” he said.
Happens to me all the time, except they wait until I get up to leave to start clapping.
-------------------------------- When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier
Posts: 38223 | Location: Somewhere in the middle | Registered: 19 January 2010
