VILNIUS, Lithuania — It was never a secret that China tightly controls what its people can read and write on their cellphones. But it came as a shock to officials in Lithuania when they discovered that a popular Chinese-made handset sold in the Baltic nation had a hidden though dormant feature: a censorship registry of 449 terms banned by the Chinese Communist Party.
Lithuania’s government swiftly advised officials using the phones to dump them, enraging China — and not for the first time. Lithuania has also embraced Taiwan, a vibrant democracy that Beijing regards as a renegade province, and pulled out of a Chinese-led regional forum that it scorned as divisive for the European Union.
Furious, Beijing has recalled its ambassador, halted trips by a Chinese cargo train into the country and made it nearly impossible for many Lithuanian exporters to sell their goods in China. Chinese state media has assailed Lithuania, mocked its diminutive size and accused it of being the “anti-China vanguard” in Europe.
In the battlefield of geopolitics, Lithuania versus China is hardly a fair fight — a tiny Baltic nation with fewer than 3 million people against a rising superpower with 1.4 billion. Lithuania’s military has no tanks or fighter jets, and its economy is 270 times smaller than China’s.
boucledor on October 1st, 2021 at 13:07 UTC »
Very interesting situation. Europe / US can use / are using Lithuania as a proxy with China to determine how serious China is with their treats. For Lithuania, it seems that the reprimand from China are non existent or at least very manageable. Thus giving hints to EU and US on how to deal with the CCP.
As for Lithuania, kudos for standing against the CCP. Specially looking toward Taiwan. I sincerely hope the EU will support Lithuania when/if the situation will become more dire.
iwanttodrink on October 1st, 2021 at 06:31 UTC »
China's ultranationalists have been hilariously counterproductive and incompetent. Due to China's ultranationalist's media arrogance in constantly making fun of Lithuania as a "tiny country" with only 3 million people that can't possible do anything to a rising superpower with 1.4 billion people, they've forgotten that Lithuania is a part of the EU. Coupled with China's equally incompetent wolf warrior diplomats and foreign policy clearly trying to be economically coercive against a country with already minimal economic ties to China, it's started an anti-China block in the EU led by Lithuania that didn't even exist prior to China's incompetent bullying of Lithuania. This "tiny country" is now casting quite a large shadow over China.
This is what happens when you stoke the flames of nationalism too much and it starts to work against you.
theoryofdoom on October 1st, 2021 at 03:08 UTC »
Submission Statement:
In this article, Andrew Higgins (Moscow Bureau Chief for the New York Times) describes Lithuania's multi-front resistance to Chinese economic and political influence, and its broader geopolitical significance. Higgins argues that Lithuania plays an outsized role in its resisting the rise of China and increasingly global influence of the Chinese Communist Party.
Lithuania's foreign policy is based, foremostly, on its values: democracy and the rule of law, however much easier it would be to simply capitulate to the CCP. In this way, Lithuania represents a moral guidepost for resistance to communism, totalitarianism and manifestations of its insidious influence. For example, Chinese-manufactured handsets sold in Lithuania had a dormant feature concealed from users --- "a censorship registry of 449 terms banned by the Chinese Communist Party" --- Lithuania's government advised those using the phones to dump them outright.
China was enraged. In the face of Beijing's regarding Taiwan as a renegade province, Lithuania embraced Taiwan with open arms, even entertaining the idea of informal diplomatic relations, prompting Beijing to recall its ambassador. China retaliated by interfering with trade, but Lithuania did not yield.
Antony Blinken (Biden Secretary of State) reaffirmed the United States' "ironclad U.S. support for Lithuania in the face of attempted coercion from the People’s Republic of China," in a recent diplomatic event between representatives of both countries.
No Paywall: https://archive.is/C2To2