The cost of goods such as iPhones, shoes, and electricity could go up if countries break from their dependency on Russia and China, but it’s the price the world must pay to safeguard the rules-based order, Lithuania’s foreign minister has stated.
Lithuania currently sits on two major geopolitical fault lines—on the one hand, it must confront rising tensions on the neighbouring Ukrainian border with Russian troops mobilising in their thousands, while on the other, it has been the subject of ongoing economic coercion from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“For decades now, there were those who were convinced it is possible through the liberalisation of trade to bring values like rule of law and democracy to others,” he said. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be the case—quite the opposite actually.”
“It appears that profitability created dependencies, dependencies that limit the possibility of one side to even ask for responsibility from the other,” he said.
“Take the case of energy supply for Europe. Seemingly cheap energy supply from Russia to Europe has not created incentives for Russia to reform, but it definitely has limited the possibility of Europeans to react to possible Russian military aggression.”
Landsbergis said that if Russia were to cut oil, gas, or coal exports to European Union nations—of which it is a significant source—energy prices would skyrocket, hamstringing the response from governments.
In contrast, Lithuania had built “resilience” that Landsbergis hoped could inspire other countries. He pointed to the 2014 decision to purchase an LNG terminal, after years of dependency on Russia, which allowed the Baltic nation to import its own gas supplies—contributing to some of the cheapest electricity prices on the continent.
When asked by a student invited to the Press Club on what individuals could do in response to the lack of solid action from governments in dealing with China and Russia, Landsbergis said to keep speaking out on those issues and noted that there would be a cost to acting.
“Sometimes there is wishful thinking that we can get a Green Deal and not pay one dollar on the euro. It won’t happen. It’s costly, and we will have to pay it,” he said.
“If we don’t want to purchase things from forced labour camps, that means our shoes will be a bit more expensive, iPhones can get much more expensive, and things like that,” he said. “These things do cost, but principles cost. We have to understand on which side are we?”
Landsbergis noted that three weeks prior, during discussions in Germany on banning imports from forced labour-linked supply chains, concerns were raised that Europe could not meet its “green objectives” if it decoupled.
Beijing-Moscow, Strange Bedfellows
Regarding the Beijing-Moscow axis and its recent joint statement released during the Winter Olympic Games, Landsbergis said he did not believe everything was rosy with the alliance.“For example, if I remember correctly, it doesn’t say a word about the ’security guarantees’ that (Vladimir) Putin is asking. I’m absolutely sure that Putin wanted to have this because he’s constantly repeating this every day and in every statement that he makes,” the foreign minister said.
Since late 2021, Putin has been calling on Western democratic nations to sign off on security guarantees around the Ukrainian situation.
Landsbergis said that Russian Foreign Minister Sergeĭ Viktorovich Lavrov even sent a letter to every minister in the European Union and NATO asking on an individual basis, “What do we think about the security guarantees that Russia is asking for?”
“So obviously, he asked the same thing from China, but he (Putin) didn’t get it,” Landsbergis said. “There are interesting missing points. I would say they are partners in this because of necessity, not because they really like it.”
