Europe capable of defending itself without China’s help: Lithuanian minister

LONDON

Lithuania’s foreign minister said Wednesday that Europe does not need China's help to defend itself, criticizing the continent’s foreign policy.

"Instead of requesting assistance, we should be projecting our strengths, showing the world that Ukraine, Europe and the US are willing and able to secure the European continent," Gabrielius Landsbergis wrote on Twitter.

"That is the only signal we should be sending," he said, adding that Europe's "geopolitical blindness" has not yet been cured.

“For years, the West said economic cooperation would persuade dictators to support (a) rules-based international order. But all we did was feed their economies while letting them break all the rules. China is betting that we will repeat this mistake. It's time to try something else,” he said.

“We bought energy, we transferred technology, we invested in totalitarian regimes. We enabled them to grow. Not for the practical benefits, but due to the messianic delusion that the spread of Western influence is inevitable and can only bring change for good.”

Claiming the West’s entanglement made it "strategically blind," Landsbergis said they ignored the threats made not only to countries bordering Russia but also to Western society itself.

Alongside a weak foreign policy, Western countries also weakened internally and “corruption, weaponized radicalization and interference in elections became the norm,” he said.

"We asked Russia not to invade Ukraine. We asked Russia not to invade Georgia. We made phone calls. The result was a tragically predictable disaster. Our strategy clearly failed with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin."

Landsbergis said that now asking for China's help to secure peace in Europe "would be a mistake bigger than Nord Stream," referring to the Russian-built Nord Stream gas pipelines on the bed of the Baltic Sea, which were ruptured in explosions last year.

He said that Europe should show the world that Ukraine, Europe and the US are willing and able to secure the continent.

"There is no substitute for transatlantic unity, so we must protect and defend it, not dismantle it," he added.

In February, the Chinese Foreign Ministry released a 12-point statement listing Beijing's position on a political settlement to the war in Ukraine. It called for respecting the sovereignty of all countries, ceasing hostilities, resuming peace talks and resolving the humanitarian crisis in the region.

Keeping nuclear power plants safe, facilitating grain exports and stopping unilateral sanctions were also listed in the plan, which noted that dialogue and negotiation are "the only viable solution to the Ukraine crisis."