Taiwan issue in Lithuanian foreign policy: the role of parliamentary diplomacy

• In Event: Implications of Lithuania-Taiwan Relations

Abstract

Lithuania's national foreign policy conception has been relatively stable and with clearly articulated objectives- EU and NATO membership and the development of the EU's Eastern Partnership policy. It was therefore quite unexpected when the current government announced a new and rather unusual direction for Lithuania's foreign policy - the strengthening of relations with Taiwan and the opening of a Taiwanese representative office in Vilnius in 2021. The "value dimension" in foreign policy was articulated in the political discourse. This political move, which led to a political crisis and a freezing of trade relations with China, eventually resulted in the declared aim in 2003 to de-escalate and normalize relations with Greater China.
The aim of this paper is to assess the role and significance of parliamentary diplomacy in the formulation of the country's foreign policy, using this case study. Traditionally, parliamentarians are not active subjects in foreign policy. However, scholars have identified an increasing number of cases where parliamentary delegations develop socializing relations or help to resolve crises where this is not possible at other levels. In the case of Lithuania, the parliamentary delegation has been active in creating relations with Taiwan, and in 2023, the factual Taiwanese Foreign Minister in Lithuania was received only by the Parliament. This raises two important questions: (a) how does a small country act in pursuit of its foreign policy objectives in a situation of conflict with a Great power? (b) what is the role of parliamentary diplomacy in the development of foreign policy?

Short Bio

Sima Rakutienė is Head of the Department of Regional Studies at the Faculty of Political Science and Diplomacy, Vytautas Magnus University, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations and Senior Research Fellow at the V. Kavolis Institute. She specializes in EU policies and has published scholarly monographs on EU power and foreign policy and Lithuania's representation in the European Parliament.

Author

• Sima Rakutienė, Vytautas Magnus University, Faculty of Political Science and Diplomacy