Australia, Lithuania unite against China’s ‘economic coercion’

Australia and Lithuania are part of an ‘exclusive club’ of countries being targeted by Beijing, Lithuania’s foreign minister said in Canberra on Wednesday

Australian host Marise Payne said the two were ‘sending the strongest possible message about our rejection of coercion and our rejection of authoritarianism’

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Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis and his Australian counterpart Marise Payne hold a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday. Photo: Lukas Coch/AAP Image via AP

Published: 1:08pm, 9 Feb 2022Updated: 1:45pm, 9 Feb 2022

China will target more countries with “economic coercion” unless “like-minded” nations resist, Lithuania’s foreign minister warned on Wednesday during a trip to Canberra to open the country’s first embassy in Australia.

Joking that the two nations were part of an “exclusive club” of those targeted by Beijing, Gabrielius Landsbergis said “it is apparent we’re definitely not the last ones”.

Landsbergis visited his Australian counterpart Marise Payne at Parliament House where they agreed to increase cooperation on strategic challenges and opposing coercive economic practices.

Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis. Photo: AFP

Australia and Lithuania have become conspicuous examples of the economic damage that can come with raising China’s ire.

“For quite a while, Australia was probably one of the main examples where China is using economy and trade as a political instrument or, one might say, even as a political weapon,” Landsbergis said.

Australia has seen a swathe of its exports effectively banned from reaching China following a series of political disputes over the last two years.