Lithuania, Indo-Pacific, and Anti-China Measures

• 

Lithuania is one of the Baltic countries and has been part of the European Union (EU) since 2004, aligning itself in all aspects with the bloc. The small country has no relevance in the geopolitical scenario and has no potential to fight any external enemy, but since the new socio-economic tensions between China and the United States (US), the small country tries - without success - to oppose China and cause a crisis between the EU and the Asian country. However, the nation, completely abandoning its national sovereignty, is becoming a colony of NATO and the US, proving its total inconsistency in dealing diplomatically with China - Lithuania has no independent voice.

Lithuania, China, and measures against the "One China" principle

Lithuania and China had a close and mutually beneficial trade relationship, but from 2021 onward, the country accepted Western narratives and repressions against China, deciding to leave the “17 + 1” group, a group of countries in Eastern Europe and China with ties to Chinese trade, with serious consequences for its economy. In addition to this economic mistake, Lithuania will stay out of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a plan to commercially interconnect countries and invest in their infrastructure, and is encouraging other countries to make the same mistake. The BRI is a new form of globalization and breaking of geographic borders in the world, proving to be a bilateral cooperative factor. In this way, countries that do not want to engage in dialogue with this plan are left in a fragile economic stage. In addition to incorporating cultural-media pressures, the former Soviet republic is becoming the spokesperson, like the Indo-Pacific countries, of US foreign policy in the region and joining in the strategy of containment of the Asian country and of attitudes against Chinese sovereignty in the Taiwan region.

Taiwan has been separated from China since the 1949 socialist revolution when Chinese nationalist Kuomintang troops lost the civil war to the communists, led by Mao Zedong (1893 - 1976). The Kuomintang, led by Chiang Kai-shek (1887 - 1975), fled to the island after the defeat and began to govern it according to their ideological convictions. According to the flight, between the '50s and '70s, the country was close to most Western governments, which all recognized Taiwan as the "Republic of China." The country was the representative in the UN Security Council - an absurd - in the place of communist China until 1971. As of 1979, after a long period of rapprochement under the Nixon administration, the US began to recognize communist China and sever diplomatic relations with Taiwan. In this way, Westerners have begun to recognize the "One China" principle, which stipulates that Taiwan is a Chinese zone that will one day be reunified and that countries must diplomatically recognize mainland China as a country.

On November 18, 2021, Lithuania broke and flouted the principle by opening a Taiwanese embassy on its territory, at a time the countries of Europe and the US have unofficial Taiwan embassies named after Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. The Asian giant withdrew its ambassador from the country in response, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the episode was an attack on Chinese sovereignty and territorial integrity. In addition, China is cutting economic ties with the country, including no longer exporting meat to the nation and encouraging its allies to do the same. Lithuania and the EU call the Chinese response "economic coercion", but the lack of respect for Chinese sovereignty what name can we give it?

In addition to Lithuania, the Indo-Pacific and the new NATO - AUKUS

The Indo-Pacific countries, most of them informal colonies of the USA, show their subservience to Washington and their hostility to China every day. The countries form an alliance to stop the expansion of China, the AUKUS - a regional NATO species. This containment of China happened for warlike reasons, such as Scott Morrison, President of Australia, proposing to increase the Australian Defense Force (ADF) and expand it to more than 101,000, an increase of about 30%, or for reproductions of hegemonic speeches against China, as in the internal issues of Chinese autonomous zones such as Xijiang. From these actions and hostilities, the Asian country will increase its military budget by 1.45 trillion yuan (about 229 billion USD), an increase of 7.1% over the previous year, the Chinese government in the National Congress do Povo justified the increase by the fact that in 2020, because of the pandemic, the military budget fell below the average and was the lowest in 32 years; however, we know that the real motives are preserving Chinese security and sanding up to the formation of a micro-NATO in the region.

After the announcement of the military increase, the Western media sought to irrationally criticize the attitude of the Chinese government and to resurrect ghosts and villains of the "Cold War", where the country could destroy the "free nations" at any time - a joke. This demonization, which once worked against the USSR and Saddam Hussein, will not work with China, for, unlike the Western power bloc, which country has China invaded or bombed in recent decades? None. Beijing's foreign policy is not guided or and it does not make its decisions with childish unilateral attitudes, such as economic sanctions and direct or indirect military interventions, but with broad pragmatism and succinct dialogue. There is a difference between the military expenditures of western countries, such as the USA, and those of China, even though the Asian country has a considerable territorial extension and a demography superior to all western countries.

I ask another question:

Will it be worth it? These countries have been left out of Chinese economic initiatives, which have proven to be a salvation for countless nations and will receive help from NATO and the US.

I repeat:

Will it be worth it?