Indeed, is it not surprising that Avia Solutions Group, a company mentioned on several occasions in the reports from the security services, and our own military planes are bringing us the long-awaited treasure from our good great eastern neighbour, namely, medical masks, gloves, and reagents? By the same token, Putin’s military planes apparently provide support to Italy, the news of which we regularly get. Concurrently, in a sort of replication of the Kremlin’s and Beijing’s propaganda, we are increasingly often happy to publicly denounce the European Union, which is so ‘inefficient’ and ‘fails to help us’, while China and Putin are so ‘fantastic’: not only do they tackle things well in their own countries, but also help others. Should we follow the same line of thought, Lukashenko, infamous for offering vodka and tractors to treat the virus effectively, should, indeed, give us a friendly hand.
What we actually do is continue to participate in a propaganda campaign staged by the communist China and supported by our own military. Consider this: the Lithuanian Government thanked the communist China for the assistance. Aurelijus Veryga, Minister of Health, proudly announced the conclusion of contracts for thousands of new supplies from China. The President’s Office alerted us to the human rights situation in China, saying it should not be forgotten, yet whether the governing coalition will mind the alert is questionable.
Edward Lucas, together with a number of analysts, including Marius Laurinavičius, keeps reminding us with one voice that this kind of communist Chinese aid is generally used in countries where Beijing is very willing to achieve its own aims, but cannot progress as long as the hearts of the local citizens have not been softened.
It is true that Lithuanians are still opposed to the construction of a nuclear power plant in Astravyets, funded by China and Russia. It is equally true that we are unwilling to give away our Klaipėda seaport to the Chinese communists. Likewise, we will continue to oppose the transfer of any strategic infrastructure, including our railways, 5G connectivity or even more subtle areas, such as financial technologies, to the Chinese Communist Party’s One Belt One Road Initiative. Yes, there will be people and politicians in Lithuania who stand up not only for democracy and human rights, but also for Tibet and Taiwan, as we have self-respect and cherish our own fight for freedom.
Beijing is certainly entertaining the hope that, affected by the Stockholm syndrome, we will be grateful in the long term for the aid in combating the virus, even though the virus itself has reached us from this same amazing country. Moreover, it is concealment and denial of information, a hallmark feature of the communist rule, that has allowed COVID-19 to spread worldwide in the first place. After having received a good dose of the virus and after having come back to our senses from the crisis, we are expected to extend our arms to China in gratitude and to withdraw from at least a few red lines, which, for the second consecutive year, are being clearly drawn not only by a handful of politicians in Lithuania, but also by the State Security Department and the Ministry of Defence, let alone our key strategic partners in Washington and Berlin.
It is a fact that the ruling parties in Lithuania, namely, the farmers and the ‘red’ parties, have always been supportive to the communist Beijing and will continue to demonstrate their readiness to lay out a red carpet to China. One of the reasons for this is the participation of the current governing coalition, throughout its entire term of office, in various Beijing-staged power struggle games, whereby the Chinese communists managed to sow division and attain control in some individual European countries. Another reason is the governing coalition’s failure to make use of the help from their European family in good time. Almost a month ago, on 28 February 2020, the European Commission invited Lithuania and other EU countries to participate in the joint EU procurement procedure conducted by the European Commission together with the United Kingdom and Norway, in view of the global situation and the market conditions where it became increasingly difficult for smaller EU countries to compete for the purchase of protective equipment on the global market. Most EU Member States decided to participate, as they largely anticipated the dangers of the spread of the virus and the upcoming deficit of the protective gear in their own countries.
However, Minister Veryga remained as cool as a cucumber at the time. As early as in February, Lithuania, Poland, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, and Portugal refused to make use of this option proposed by the European Commission, although all of these countries later took drastic measures which might have been less stringent, should we have bought everything we lack today in due time. The advantage such EU tenders offer for buying items in larger quantities include better price and opportunities to compete with much larger, especially global, buyers on the market. On 28 February, a call for tenders was launched for the protective equipment, the lack of which is currently sorely felt by Lithuanian medical staff, officials, and the society at large. Meanwhile, Minister Veryga told us all at the end of February that we had enough of everything and treated us as people worthy of mental check-ups when we questioned his word, even though he had attended the meeting of EU health ministers as early as 13 February and was fully aware of all the EU opportunities and the upcoming threats. Nevertheless, after his business trip to Brussels, he was calm enough to travel overseas, from where he was only recalled by the President.
One month onwards, we see yet another face of the Minister of Health: he is now visibly happy to receive the said protective equipment from China and applies for participation in the joint EU procurement on 17 March.
Why have we not done this earlier? What was the cost to the country and to all of us of Mr Veryga’s stubbornness, inability to stop radiating Olympian calm in February, and failure to use all the necessary mechanisms, including the EU, to provide for everything in time to avoid having to bend down and glorify the communist China merely a few weeks later?
Why have we so far not accepted assistance from democratic Taiwan which, incidentally, offers help? Why are we failing to see that China, a country that has provoked this global crisis in the first place, is trying to use its humanitarian aid wittingly to get the sympathy of the people in weaker parts of the world, while at the same time both Germany and France provide aid in similar quantities to Italy? Why are we unable to get support from these countries, which we are also calling our strategic allies? Likewise, are we sure that all the roads for meeting our demands in Washington are now closed?
We have already received the first shipments from the United Kingdom and South Korea. Why is Mr Veryga not advised by our diplomatic service and the State Security Department to first and foremost benefit from all the possible support from democratic countries and institutions in a timely and effective manner, before contacting autocratic countries, whose support may come at a high price if we fail to assess its long-term consequences? The price may come not only in our country’s foreign and security interests, but also in people’s lives.
It is clear that our populist government has already made some serious mistakes in managing this crisis, given its poor experience and lack of contacts in international relations, especially with the West. I very much hope that professionals in the Lithuanian diplomatic service and our ambassadors in the West will help to rectify these mistakes. Today, each of us in the West can prove our true worth.
I am convinced that the State Defence Council, which we proposed to convene, would have prevented Minister Veryga from making such blunders. It is likely that the current wave of propaganda from China on the ‘humanitarian Silk Road’, like the propaganda from Russia, will not sow division in the West. Hopefully, after this crisis, we will all grow even more aware of what we have to deal with in the East. The massive investment in China coupled with the growing Western dependence on China can also sometimes end up this way. In the aftermath of this crisis, we will need to further strengthen our Western Alliance, not only by military but also by economic and political means, so that next time we not only survive, but also prevent such infections from reaching us in the first place.
And let us stop criticising the European Union. Without being its Member State, in the face of this crisis, today, given the current ministers and the current governing coalition, we would soon become another Belarus, fully dependent on the Kremlin. What I refer to is not only our economic and financial stability, fully granted to us by the EU long ago, but also to the strategic medical stocks financed by the EU; millions of euros allocated for the search of a vaccine; green corridors for goods, medicines and medical equipment; unprecedented support to the EU economy from the European Central Bank, comparable to the Marshall Plan; and the lending opportunities opened up by the EU. In the words of Arnoldas Pranckevičius, a long-standing European colleague, ‘We need to think twice before cutting the branch on which we are seated. We must appreciate the fact that we are not alone.’
I understand that it is sometimes easier to engage in a tango with China. I trust that Russia and Belarus would be happy to offer you a part in their dances too, Minister Veryga. However, it is high time, Mr Minister, you learnt to dance well with the West. And, please, avoid putting the blame with Brussels if your own skill is poor.
