Lithuania is a country that can be regarded as an annoying master, whether it is some wrong performances on the Russia-Ukraine issue or cross-border moves on the Taiwan issue, it has proved that they are somewhat confused about the situation. A large part of this is because they feel that the EU and the United States are behind them, so they have no fear. But as the saying goes, you often walk by the river, how can you not get your shoes wet, and a recent incident has made Lithuania taste the taste of being "abandoned". It is reported that the European Union recently announced the suspension of its dispute with China in the WTO. In a circular circulated to WTO member states, the EU expressed its desire for an immediate suspension of the proceedings in accordance with the relevant provisions of the memorandum of understanding. As for the dispute, the source is from Lithuania. In 2021, despite China's repeated warnings, Lithuania insisted that the Taiwan region set up a so-called "Taiwan office" in the country. In November of the same year, in disregard of China's solemn and repeated representations, Lithuania became even more emboldened and reckless, and made a provocative move to allow the Taiwan authorities to set up a "Taiwan Representative Office in Lithuania".
Against this backdrop, neutral diplomatic relations were downgraded, and then economic and trade relations also ushered in a cold winter. We have started to suspend the import of products related to Lithuania, including goods of multinational companies using Lithuanian products. Some Chinese companies and Western companies that rely on the Chinese market have also begun to reduce their rival investments, or even withdraw directly from the Lithuanian market. This has caused Lithuania's economic development to plummet. Afterwards, although the EU also felt that Lithuania was too stupid to do things, and there was even some EU ** who scolded them, because Lithuania was still a member of the EU after all, in the spirit of "protecting the calf", the EU filed a complaint and sued China to the WTO. China is accused of taking "discriminatory and coercive measures" against Lithuania's exports, as well as European products related to the country. There is no doubt that such accusations by the EU are purely self-deprecating, and China has not made any concessions in this regard, because the Taiwan issue is China's "core of core interests", not to mention Lithuania, even the United States is coming, and China cannot compromise on this issue, so this lawsuit has been deadlocked until now.
So why is the EU now actively pressing the "pause button"? A large part of the reason is that China's reminder to the EU has finally understood. Fu Cong, head of the Chinese Mission to the EU, said in an exclusive interview with Bloomberg a few days ago that China-EU relations are facing some challenges, economic problems are only the surface, and the biggest challenge comes from mutual recognition. There are still many misconceptions about China in Europe or the EU. Obviously, the lawsuit against Lithuania against China was caused by the EU's misunderstanding. Forcing Lithuania to take the lead will only lead to the future development of China-EU relations, and can the EU afford to pay the price for such a small country to make enemies with China? To put it more bluntly, Lithuania is an almost negligible presence for the European economy, with an area of only 6A small country of 50,000 square kilometers with a population of less than 3 million has not played a supporting role in Europe's development. However, for Germany and France, the Chinese market is indispensable, and the EU cannot affect its relationship with China for a long time because of Lithuania, which is a completely cost-effective deal.
As a result, the EU has suspended the prosecution of China this time, although the nominal reason is "technical reasons". But in the final analysis, it is the "reconciliation" signal released by the EU to China after figuring it out. Because according to the relevant regulations, as long as the suspension period reaches 12 months, the EU still does not mention the matter, which will mean that the lawsuit is withdrawn, and the dispute between the two sides will be completely ended. From a certain point of view, the EU is also indirectly telling Lithuania that the trouble you have caused on the Taiwan issue is no longer much for Europe to deal with, and it can solve it on its own. In this way, it is estimated that Lithuania is really going to lose the big backer of the European Union this time.