China’s economic coercion calls for united global response: Lithuanian foreign minister ahead of G7

Recalling Baltic nation’s diplomatic spat with Asian giant over Taiwan office, Gabrielius Landsbergis says Beijing pressure tactics likely to carry on

G7 leaders’ communique from Hiroshima is expected to cite importance of countering coercion without necessarily identifying China by name

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Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis says his country has “a story to tell” about being victimised by major powers. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 11:45pm, 12 May 2023Updated: 2:17am, 13 May 2023

Chinese economic coercion is not an abstract concept for Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, who has defended his country against the full might of China. His take: Beijing’s pressure campaigns are likely to continue and they call for a coordinated global counterstrategy.

The Group of 7 economies, meeting in Japan next week, hope to forge such a response. But that is easier said than done as wealthy nations juggle disparate economic interests even as Beijing moves quickly and can speak with one voice.

“It became very important whether we were able to withstand, were able to defend, a country like Lithuania, which is very small,” said Landsbergis, adding: “We will find a consensus. It will take time. And it will be somewhere as usual in the middle.”

G7 members eager to mobilise a response can point to several instances of China’s targeted sanctions in recent times: against Lithuania for approving a “Taiwan” representative office in 2021 rather than using the “Taipei” name; Australia after its 2020 call to investigate the coronavirus origins; South Korea in 2017 following its decision to house a US anti-missile system; and Japan in 2010 over a territorial dispute.

China disagrees with the characterisations. “The US deliberately distorted China’s legitimate measures to safeguard national sovereignty as ‘economic coercion’,” according to an article published last year by Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily. “China does not engage in long-arm jurisdiction.”

A keen proponent of a robust G7 response in Hiroshima is US ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, the US ambassador to Japan.

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