Conservative MP Radvilė Morkūnaitė‑Mikulėnienė questioned whether the visit would align with the position of the Lithuanian Government, the Foreign Ministry and Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee.
“I believe this goes against Lithuania’s interests,” she said.
Social Democratic MP Rasa Budbergytė agreed with this, stating that any visit must have a mission that is harmonised with the Committee and the Foreign Ministry.
Seimas Speaker Juozas Olekas said that the lawmakers may travel to Brussels but not as the delegates of the Seimas and Parliament would not approve the official trip.
MPs Vėgėlė and Jankūnas plan to visit Brussels on 7–9 September to meet with representatives of the People’s Republic of China.
In August, the news website Delfi reported that the MPs had established an ad hoc group “For the Normalisation of Diplomatic Ties With China” and intend to meet with Chinese representatives to the EU in Belgium.
They claim that their goal is to restore diplomatic relations between Lithuania and China to the level of other European Union countries.
Relations between Vilnius and Beijing sharply deteriorated after the opening of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania at the end of 2021. Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province of China and objects to the use of the name of Taiwan rather than Taipei. China responded with diplomatic and economic sanctions against Lithuania and downgraded the level of diplomatic representation.