US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone with his counterparts from France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, during which they expressed their solidarity with Lithuania in the face of increasing political pressure and economic coercion by China. Blinken expressed his support for Lithuania during the conversation.
“Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke today with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, and United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss,” said US State Department spokesperson Ned Price in a statement.
They talked about how important it is to keep the collaboration going. Foreign Ministers Jean-Yves Le Drian of France and Annalena Baerbock of Germany met today with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken of the United Kingdom, who was also speaking with Foreign Minister Elizabeth Truss of France.
A second topic of conversation between the Secretary and his counterparts was their shared concerns about the pace of progress in Iran’s nuclear programme, given the limited time remaining for Tehran to return to the JCPOA.
According to the statement, “They expressed their sympathy with Lithuania in the face of increasing political pressure and economic coercion by the People’s Republic of China, and they condemned these tactics.”
They also discussed Libya’s ongoing efforts to organise national elections, and they both agreed that it was critical for the electoral process to move forward as quickly as possible.
The conflict between Lithuania and China began earlier this year, when Lithuania withdrew from the Eastern European bloc known as the “17+1” group.
In the following years, Lithuania improved diplomatic relations with Taiwan, becoming the only European country to allow a Taiwanese representative office to be established there.
China had summoned its envoy from Vilnius back in August, and Lithuania had replied by recalling its ambassador from Beijing in September.
