Following Lithuania’s departure from the East Europe forum, that is led by China, in May 2021, Latvia and Estonia announced last week that they are also leaving. Meanwhile, the Chinese communist regime put sanctions on Lithuanian officials for visiting Taiwan.
Experts point out that the Baltic countries leaving China’s “17+1” bloc is a serious blow to the regime’s aggressive international relations in Europe.
The 17+1 cooperation forum, also known as Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries (China-CEEC), was established in 2012. It is held once a year and is a mechanism for meetings between leaders of Beijing and 17 Central and Eastern European countries. Most of the countries are from the former Soviet Union….