Lithuania's review of its relationship with China: political and security context
ENThe relationship between Lithuania and China had long progressed along similar lines to the other two Baltic states. Since roughly 2017, however, Lithuania’s perception of the Asian party-state has been rapidly changing from that of a problematic-yet-promising economic opportunity to a systemic threat. It was particularly the current centre-right government elected at the close of 2020 that – with a relatively fresh impression of several apparent negative trends in this bilateral relationship – embarked on a major review of it. The rationale for such a policy largely derived from a conviction about imminent threats associated with overall economic dependence on China and a related belief in a comparatively lower degree of Lithuania’s own existent dependence on this increasingly self-confident and proactive country. What followed could be treated as a somewhat unique Chinese weaponization of both conditionality and (inter-)dependence against Lithuania, producing a crisis in these bilateral relations and important lessons to be learned by others, including fellow Baltic states.
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