The damage done to Lithuania by incompetence of Gabrielius Landsbergis and Gitanas Nausėda

"BRUSSELS -- The European Union sued China at the World Trade Organization over punitive trade restrictions Beijing imposed on Lithuania last year, harming the small Baltic state and the 27-country bloc.

China's near-total curtailment of exports from Lithuania last December followed moves by leaders in Vilnius to support Taiwan, which Beijing considers a breakaway province.

The EU on Wednesday said as a result of China's restrictions, trade between it and Lithuania fell 80% this year through October. China's restrictions cover exports directly from Lithuania and Lithuanian elements of goods exported from other EU countries, the bloc said.

Lithuania's annual exports to China are valued at more than 220 million euros ($231.3 million), but a broader concern is "a chilling effect" on trade in the EU, a bloc official said.

"China has applied discriminatory and coercive measures" with its policies, the EU said.

China's Ministry of Commerce said it regretted the EU's decision. It said China would handle the matter in line with the WTO's dispute-settlement procedures and would "resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests."

The EU's trade office said it filed a separate complaint against limits China placed on the ability of EU high-tech patent holders to file lawsuits outside China to protect their intellectual property. The restrictions, known as anti-suit injunctions, forbid EU patent-holders from enforcing patent rights, even in EU courts, the trade office said. Violations of China's rules, which affect companies such as makers of mobile-communication technology, can lead to fines of more than 130,000 euros a day, the EU said.

"Through these anti-suit injunctions China unilaterally imposes rules for the benefit of its own enterprises, to the detriment of the WTO multilateral system for the protection of intellectual property rights," the EU said.

Brussels this year filed less-formal complaints on both issues, but didn't achieve satisfactory results. Both issues "are highly damaging to European businesses," the bloc's trade office said.

The outcome of filings in the WTO is far from certain because the 164-member organization is partially paralyzed by disputes among the U.S., China and other members." [1]

The action of EU is completely useless since WTO system is blocked by America.

1. World News: EU Sues China at WTO Over Lithuania
Michaels, Daniel.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 08 Dec 2022: A.12.