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China says ‘isolated incidents’ won’t stop cooperation with Central and Eastern Europe after Lithuania quits ‘17+1’
- The Baltic state’s foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said the country was ‘out for practical purposes’
- Decision is latest indication of declining relations between Beijing and Europe after the EU Parliament’s decision to freeze and investment deal
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China has insisted that “isolated incidents” will not affect its cooperation with Central and Eastern European countries after Lithuania decided to quit Beijing’s mechanism for engaging with the region.
On Monday, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Liijan did not directly address the decision to quit the “17+1” grouping, following the announcement from Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, who also called on other countries to quit.
“The cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries is mutually beneficial. Fruitful achievements have been made in the past nine years since the establishment of the mechanism, and this will not be affected by isolated incidents,” Zhao said when asked about the decision.
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The former Soviet republic’s move is the latest indication of the deteriorating relationship between China and Europe, and raised further questions on how successful Beijing’s efforts to forge closer ties with Central and Eastern European countries have been.
While Lithuania’s foreign ministry has not published any official statement on the decision, Landsbergis retweeted an interview with Politico about the decision.
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