Budrys says Lithuania will seek EU backing to reduce dependence on China

Lithuania wants to pull the European Union toward a tougher economic-security policy on China when it takes over the bloc’s Council presidency in the first half of 2027.

Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys told the opposition conservative faction in the Seimas that Lithuania is closer to “decoupling” from China than to “de-risking”, the approach the European Union wants to pursue. He said the Foreign Ministry had already made economic security a priority, including questions of Chinese dependencies, imports and the exports of certain companies.

“We are at a completely radical, security-oriented point,” Budrys said. Lithuania’s interest, he added, is to move the entire European Union toward its position through trade and economic-security policy during its presidency.

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We are closer to decoupling, disengaging from China, than to de-risking, that is, managing risks, which is where the European Union wants to move.

Budrys pointed to Lithuania’s large trade imbalance with China. He said last year’s export-to-import ratio was about one to eight, while acknowledging that other countries faced imbalances measured in dozens of times. Lithuania will take over the EU Council presidency from Ireland and later pass it to Greece. The country last held the role in 2013.

Relations between Vilnius and Beijing sharply worsened after Lithuania opened a Taiwanese representative office in late 2021. China regards Taiwan as a province without the right to establish representative offices in countries maintaining official relations with Beijing, and responded to Lithuania’s decision with strict diplomatic and economic sanctions. President Gitanas Nausėda has said it is realistic for Budrys to make progress with China before the presidency, while the minister has described himself as optimistic about the issue.

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We are at a completely radical, security-oriented point.