Dharamshala, 2nd October: China has always kept a tight grip on what its citizens may read and write on their cell phones. Officials in Lithuania were taken aback when they discovered a hidden but active feature in a popular Chinese-made smartphone sold in the Baltic nation: a censorship registry of 449 phrases prohibited by the Chinese Communist Party.
Lithuania’s government quickly urged officials who were using the phones to dispose of them, infuriating China for the second time. Lithuania has also shown support for Taiwan, a strong democracy that Beijing considers as a renegade colony, and has withdrawn from a Chinese-led regional forum that it regards as problematic for the European Union.
Beijing, enraged, has summoned its ambassador, blocked the entry of a Chinese cargo train, and made it practically impossible for many Lithuanian exporters to sell their wares in China. Lithuania has been attacked by Chinese official media, which has mocked its small size and accused it of being Europe’s “anti-China vanguard.”
Lithuania vs. China is hardly a fair contest in geopolitics, pitting a tiny Baltic republic with fewer than 3 million people against a burgeoning behemoth with 1.4 billion. Lithuania’s military lacks tanks and fighter jets, while the country’s economy is 270 times that of China.
But, surprisingly, Lithuania has shown that even little countries can cause problems for a superpower, particularly one like China, whose diplomats seem hell-bent on getting other countries to follow their lead. Indeed, Lithuania, which has minimal trade with China, has created such a stir that its EU counterparts are set to meet next week to discuss the matter. Nothing could be more damaging to Beijing than if more nations followed Lithuania’s lead.
Threats and tantrums from Beijing haven’t eroded Lithuania’s determination, in part because China has little clout over the country. The foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, said in an interview that the country has a “values-based foreign policy” that includes “helping those that support democratic movements.”
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