Lithuania, a tiny nation of less than 2.8 million people, said on Saturday it was quitting the China-led “17+1” grouping with central and eastern European states and asked other countries to walk out of the forum set up by China in 2012 to forge ties and expand its influence.
The announcement had been in the works for some time. Lithuania, like some other countries in the region, has been increasingly suspicious of China for some time. It was in 2019 that the Baltic state first identified Chinese espionage as a threat to its national security. “As Chinese economic and political ambitions grow in Lithuania and other NATO and EU countries, activities of the Chinese intelligence and security services become increasingly aggressive”,the Defense Ministry said in their National Threat Assessment 2019 report.
Its latest threat assessment report released in February this year was equally scathing, accusing Beijing of trying to exploit the Covid pandemic to discredit perceived adversaries and improve its image.
To be sure, Lithuania isn’t the only one within the “17+1” grouping to have tempered its expectations from the grouping that was once expected to lead to a rush of Chinese investment and infrastructure. Five other countries, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Romania, and Slovenia, also indicated their diminished interest in the grouping and were represented by ministers at Xi Jinping’s high-profile February summit.
The EU-China investment pact, sealed in December 2020 after being negotiated for nearly seven years, was the latest casualty when European Parliament on Thursday halted ratification of the agreement which was then seen as a geopolitical win for China. It was proof of Europe’s independence from the US and Beijing’s ability to collaborate with US’ allies who adopted a moderate approach.
On Thursday, the European Parliament refused to consider the investment deal as long as its “baseless and arbitrary” penalties were in place.
According to the resolution, the parliament, which must ratify the investment deal, “demands that China lift the sanctions before Parliament can deal with the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment”.
In a vote passed with 599 votes in favour, 30 against and 58 abstentions, the lawmakers also warned that lifting the sanctions would not in itself ensure the deal’s ratification. The legislators said they will take into account the human rights situation in China when deciding to greenlight the multi-billion deal.
The decision to freeze the investment pact had been expected by some analysts after China retaliated against the US, UK and EU over sanctions related to allegations of human rights abuses in the western region of Xinjiang by announcing measures against 10 European politicians, scholars and research groups.
Angela Merkel’s Germany was one of the few voices that continue to speak in favour of the EU-China pact. According to AFP, German economy minister Peter Altmaier said China is the European Union’s largest trading partner, and thus plays an important role in the global economy.
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