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Exclusive | Lithuania quit 17+1 because access to Chinese market did not improve, its envoy says
- Expectation for joining was better market access that was not forthcoming, says Lithuanian ambassador Diana Mickeviciene
- Withdrawal was the latest blow to relations between the two countries, at a time when China-EU ties have also been strained
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Lithuania’s top diplomat in China has rejected claims that her country was taking sides against Beijing by quitting the China-led 17+1 mechanism, saying the withdrawal was prompted by less-than-expected trade benefits.
Diana Mickeviciene, the Lithuanian ambassador to China, said the Chinese side had been told in February of the decision to pull out of the Beijing-led China and Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries cooperation mechanism, often referred to as 17+1.
“It was pure calculation,” she told the South China Morning Post, dismissing a claim by Chinese nationalistic tabloid Global Times that Lithuania was picking an “anti-China” side by withdrawing.
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There was no need to formally leave the mechanism given that it was a voluntary group, she said of February’s decision, which followed a virtual summit hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
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The Baltic country was the first to pull out of the grouping, initiated by China in 2012. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis confirmed the move on May 22 and urged other European Union (EU) countries to follow suit, calling the mechanism “divisive” from a European perspective.
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