According to Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT) and Hong Kong’s “South China Morning Post” on the 12th, a poll commissioned by the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently showed that nearly two-thirds of Lithuanian respondents did not support the country’s current Only 13% of the respondents expressed support for Vilnius’ tough China policy.
The South China Morning Post said this increased pressure on the country’s foreign ministry.
However, according to Lithuanian National Radio and Television, the country’s high-profile “anti-China” Foreign Minister Lanzbergis insisted that his government’s China policy was “consistent” in response to the poll results.
According to the report, the Lithuanian poll was conducted from December 10 to 18, 2021, and asked questions including how the people of the country view the current Lithuanian policy toward China.
The results, released on Tuesday (January 11), showed that only 13 percent of respondents said they were in favor, while 60 percent said they were negative.
According to the report, the survey results also showed that overall, the Lithuanian public trust in the foreign policy of the country’s government is only 30%, and 47% express “distrust”.
For this poll, the report said that the country’s foreign minister, Landsbergis, criticized the wording of the survey questions and insisted that Lithuania’s China policy was “consistent”: “In fact, Lithuania has never changed its China policy. China has decided to take unannounced and most likely illegal measures against Lithuania and the European Union,” Landsbergis argued Wednesday (12th), “This is the truth.”
Landsbergis claimed that the wording of some of the questions in the poll was “inaccurate”: “I would probably ask whether Lithuania should support, agree with the desire of the Taiwanese people to be called ‘Taiwanese’, rather than asking Lithuania’s views on China. policy.”
How are the facts?
According to reports, the Lithuanian government and its Foreign Minister Landsbergis, who have been provoking China recently, are now facing increasing pressure and doubts.
Lithuanian President Nauseda criticized the government’s decision on the 4th of this month to allow the Taiwan authorities to open a “representative office in Lithuania” in the name of “Taiwan”. pay attention to.
After that, the shadow cabinet of Lithuania issued a statement expressing the hope of normalizing relations between Lithuania and China, recognizing that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory, and the Greek government corrected its mistakes and renamed the “Taiwan Representative Office” to “Taipei Representative Office”.
In this regard, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on the 11th that I have noticed relevant reports.
The right and wrong of the problems in neutral relations are very clear.
The Lithuanian government’s treachery, disregarding the overall situation of China-Lithuanian relations and the interests of the Lithuanian country and people, has been widely questioned and opposed at home and abroad.
We urge the Legislative Government to correct its mistakes, stop acting as a pawn for “Taiwan independence” and anti-China forces, make choices that conform to its own interests and norms of international relations, and return to the right track of adhering to the one-China principle.
