Recently, a country area of only more than 60,000 square kilometers, a population of less than 3 million, a city-sized country, the new prime minister just took office, spoke to improve relations with China, the result of the domestic pot directly exploded, massive protests erupted.
Lithuania's new Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene
First of all, the new prime minister, Inka Rouhaniene, who had just been approved by Congress on August 26, pledged to visit Warsaw and Kiev to consolidate relations with Poland and Ukraine, and especially to strive to normalize relations with China.
Originally, improving relations is a good thing and is beneficial to both sides. Lithuania had a conflict with China before and suffered heavy economic losses. Many Lithuania companies are eager to reopen the China market.
However, the new ruling coalition led by Ruginiene has been questioned as being "pro-Russia." The new government is composed of the Social Democratic Party, the "Alliance of Farmers and Greens of Lithuania","Dawn of Nimunas" and the "Christian Family Alliance." Among them, the latter two were accused of being "pro-Russia".
You know, in the context of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, many people in Lithuania are quite wary of Russia, and even hostile to Russia. As soon as the new government was labeled "pro-Russian", the people quit.
2000 people gathered outside the presidential palace to protest
On the 26th, about 2,000 people first gathered in front of the presidential palace in Vilnius to protest, then marched to the building of Congress, and the squad grew to 10,000. The protesters carried the slogan "Shameful Social Democratic Party" "Do not pro-Russian government", the slogans shouted, and designated the day as "Shame Day".
They not only questioned the position of some lawmakers in the ruling coalition against sanctions against Russia and Belarus, but also worried that the "pro-Russian" tendencies of the new government would pose a threat to Lithuania's national status and reputation, and even sent a petition to the president to refuse to appoint cabinet members from "Dawn of Nimunas" and "Christian Family Union".
Anti-government protests in Lithuania
With the situation developing to this point, we have reason to suspect whether there are Western forces behind this? After all, Lithuania has always been a member of the Western camp, and the United States and other Western countries have considerable influence on Lithuania. Will the improvement of relations between Lithuania and China touch the interests of some Western forces?
You must know that Lithuania's blatant provocation of China on Taiwan-related issues before was supported by the United States. In 2021, Lithuania allowed the Taiwan authorities to establish a "Taiwan Representative Office in Lithuania", which seriously violated the one-China principle. China decisively downgraded bilateral diplomatic relations to the charge d'affaires level, and also took a series of economic countermeasures. Lithuania's economy suffered a severe blow.
At that time, Lithuania was willing to be a "pawn" of the United States. Now it wants to go back and improve relations with China. Can the United States and other western countries be happy?
In 2023, NATO will hold a summit in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania
In order to seek security, Lithuania chose to cooperate closely with the United States, Europe, NATO and the European Union. The logic behind this is very simple, that is, to pursue the principle of "the enemy of the enemy is a friend". Because it has been annexed by Russia many times in history, Lithuania is full of fear and hostility towards Russia.
Of the three Baltic countries, Lithuania is most afraid of Russia. Compared with the other two countries, Lithuania not only faces Russia in the northeast, but is also surrounded by the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad Oblast in the southwest. The other two countries only face Russia in the northeast and east, and the rest of the directions are relatively safe.
Due to its weak geographical position and weak power, Lithuania needs to rely on stronger partners to counter potential threats.
Lithuania has sought permanent U.S. troops
Lithuania has a special geostrategic position. Under the situation of Sino-US competition and Russia-Uzbekistan conflict, it often uses "loyalty" to the United States and the West in exchange for security guarantees. If the United States and other external forces do not want to ease neutral relations, they may use their influence over Lithuania to indirectly interfere with the new government's relevant decisions.
Judging from past experience, in order to safeguard their own geopolitical interests, some Western countries often engage in "color revolutions" in other countries, inciting popular protests and supporting pro-Western forces.
This time, the new prime minister of Lithuania wanted to improve relations with China, and protests broke out in the country. It is hard not to wonder whether Western forces were paying overseas to incite these protesters. After all, once relations between Lithuania and China ease, there will be a "gap" in the United States 'layout to contain China in Eastern Europe.
In May this year, Tsai visited Lithuania.
Looking at the neutral relationship, there have been constant twists and turns in recent years. In addition to the Taiwan issue mentioned earlier, on November 29 last year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania announced for no reason that it would list relevant diplomatic personnel from the Chargé d'affaires Office of China as "persona non grata" and request a deadline to leave the country. China strongly condemns and resolutely opposes this.
Lithuania's previous "sub-premier" Paluckas, although expressed willingness to restore diplomatic relations with China, but also stressed that this ambiguous attitude will not change the current policy, includingining trade ties with the Taiwan region, has not shown enough sincerity at all.
On the one hand, she must stand up to the pressure of domestic protests to promote and normalize China’s relations; on the other hand, she must be careful to deal with interference from foreign powers. If these issues are not handled properly, let alone the improvement of relations with China, the stability of the new government must be questioned.