Valentinas Beržiūnas. Only uncorrected error is an error

 "Valentinas Beržiūnas, Lecturer, Institute of International Relations and Political Science, Vilnius University

Although it seems that the only rational solution in relations with China is to change the name of the "Taiwanese" mission, the rulers continue to talk about "valuable" foreign policy as if a consistent democracy policy had not been characteristic of Lithuania before. However, in order to undermine Lithuania's long-term and consistent efforts on the democracy front, conservatives and liberals themselves are demonstrating value inconsistencies.

 

For example, Matas Maldeikis, a member of the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party, calls for non-cooperation with non-democratic states. But at the same time, the Conservative government is forging ties with the authoritarian United Arab Emirates. The non-governmental organization Freedom House, which assesses how democratic and open the world is, called it a "non-free" country.

 

As for the name of the "Taiwanese" representation, the Conservatives use the analogy of Lithuania and Iceland, despite the fact that this comparison is, to put it mildly, not very adequate. As you know, both the People's Republic of China and Taiwan (the Republic of China) follow a so-called 'one China' policy, in other words, claim the same territory. Thus, Taiwan does not declare independence from China, but simply considers itself a "true" government throughout China, including the mainland. Thus, if we already follow the analogy of "Iceland" in the case of Taiwan, we acknowledge that Lithuania, in 1990 after declaring its independence from the Soviet Union, it also attributed to itself the entire territory of the USSR, which is absurd.

 

The economic conflict with China is costly. In addition to the inevitable decline in Lithuania's gross domestic product, attention must also be paid to the qualitative side of the issue - Lithuania may lose a significant part of its high-tech production and industry.

 

The laser industry, which glorifies our country for a long time, has announced a double contraction and warned of a possible withdrawal from Lithuania. The semiconductor laser company owned by the Vizbar brothers has been talking about this for some time.

 

Activities are being halted or are planned to be relocated to other countries and other Lithuanian companies, as the conflict with China is hampering the supply of the necessary parts. Textiles and the car industry, for example, have already received warnings from European partners that if the situation does not improve, contracts could be terminated. Although some businesses tried to circumvent China’s restrictions by importing some Chinese goods through third countries, the Chinese quickly understood this maneuver.

 

Foreign investment in Lithuania is also under threat. News has recently spread in the public sphere that China is pushing the German car parts giant Continental to stop using components made in its factory in Lithuania. The Continental plant in Kaunas district is the largest investment in the manufacturing sector in Lithuania in two decades. And these investments may not last if the situation does not change.

 

The rumors say that Taiwan will compensate for the losses is unfounded. Although Taiwan's huge "investment" is promised, including in the semiconductor industry already mentioned, it is still just a matter of language. It seems that this can only remain in the speculations, because, say, the Taiwanese chip giant TSMC has announced plans to build a semiconductor plant in Germany, not in Lithuania. It is probable that such a decision is related to the fact that a large part of the chips sold by TSMC travel to the same China, therefore, due to the established poor relations between China and Lithuania, they will not be able to be manufactured in Lithuania.

 

By the way, we can remember that this is not the first time that conservatives have talked about the arrival of high technology in Lithuania.

 

A decade ago, the government led by conservative Andrius Kubilius had announced the establishment of an IBM research center in Lithuania. The contract was signed with IBM Research GmbH in 2010. In September, the Lithuanian Research Center (LTC) was established under it. The five-year operating expenses of LTC, which were to reach 216 million LTL. It was planned to cover LTL 1 billion from the EU Structural Funds and public and private investment funds. Although the state has invested about 6 million LTL in the activities of this company, EU structural funds support failed. The resounding promises ended in a fiasco: a loss to the budget without the establishment of any research center.

 

It is difficult not to mention that, with their unilateral decisions, a group of individuals in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are undermining the long-standing consensus on foreign policy. From now on, it seems that consensus is no longer needed in foreign policy decisions - neither the President, nor the business community, nor other political parties are consulted.

 

In the past, every major foreign policy initiative, including NATO and EU membership, has been based on a compromise between political forces and other interest groups and society. It is not surprising that the unilateral way of acting of the ruling parties is criticized even by such heavyweights of Lithuanian foreign policy as the outgoing President Valdas Adamkus.

 

The situation is gradually being rectified on the initiative of President Gitanas Nausėda, who convened a wide-ranging meeting of politicians and business representatives to improve the resilience of the Lithuanian economy, finding a way out of the current difficult situation. However, the only way out now is to change the name of the "Taiwanese" mission. This is not a concession or a knee-jerk and not a show of weakness, but a normal, consistent and logical diplomatic move. We need to acknowledge mistakes, not follow them dogmatically. As the famous Chinese thinker Confucius put it, "only an uncorrected mistake is a mistake."