Context:
- Lithuania said that it was quitting China’s 17+1 cooperation forum with central and eastern European states that includes other EU members, calling it “divisive”.
- The Baltic country urged fellow EU members to pursue “a much more effective 27+1 approach and communication with China.”
- Recently, Lithuania also took several steps that angered Beijing, including the blocking of Chinese investment and announcing it would open a trade office in Taiwan.
Relevance:
GS-II: International Relations (India’s Neighbors, Important International Groupings affecting India’s Interests)
Dimensions of the Article:
- Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries
- Lithuania
Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries
- Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries (China-CEE/16+1) is an initiative by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to promote business and investment relations between China and 16 countries of CEE (CEEC) – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.
- The format was founded in 2012 in Warsaw to push for cooperation of the “17+1” (the 17 CEE countries and China).
- The China-CEE secretariat is in Beijing, with 17 “national coordinators” in each of the partner CEE countries.
- The format’s goals are to promote the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative and enhance cooperation in the fields of infrastructure, transportation and logistics, trade and investment”.
Lithuania
- Lithuania is a country in the Baltic region of Europe and it lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea.
- Lithuania is a developed country, with a high-income advanced economy; ranking very high in the Human Development Index.
- It ranks favourably in terms of civil liberties, press freedom and internet freedom.
- However, Lithuania has experienced a gradual population decline since the 1990s, with social issues such as income inequality and high suicide rate remaining a problem.
- Lithuania is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, eurozone, the Nordic Investment Bank, Schengen Agreement, NATO and OECD. It participates in the Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB8) regional co-operation format.
-Source: The Hindu
