Separately, Beijing hit out at the Lithuanian government for a delegation to visit Taiwan led by the deputy minister for transport and communication, Agnė Vaiciukevičiūtė. “This is a naked betrayal” of Lithuania’s pledge of one China policy, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin.
Estonia and Latvia had sought to take a less confrontational line than Lithuania, but have decided to take the step after Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu came back to power | Gints Ivuskans/AFP via Getty Images
In private, Estonian and Latvian officials have warned about this looming move for months. Even though they had sought to take a less confrontational line than Lithuania, they have decided to take the step after Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu came back to power less than a month ago.
Nine of the 27 EU countries remain in the club, which Beijing started in 2012: Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Five non-EU countries are also in: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.
The EU is also an observer in the meetings.
Beijing was already sensing an increasingly lukewarm reaction from these countries earlier this year. In April, China dispatched seasoned diplomat Huo Yuzhen, who’s the special envoy for Central and Eastern European countries to tour the region to try to mend the ties.
China has not announced plans for President Xi Jinping or Prime Minister Li Keqiang to chair another supposedly annual summit with the leaders from the region.
Last year, Estonia snubbed Xi’s invitation for Prime Minister Kaja Kallas to attend the virtual summit. Her foreign minister attended in her stead.
Source link : https://www.politico.eu/article/down-to-14-1-estonia-and-latvia-quit-chinas-club-in-eastern-europe/
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Publish date : 2022-08-11 03:00:00
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