I would really like to know what exactly ‘normalizing’ means as China has likely a different view which is not limited to, but includes the Baltic states.

In 2023, China’s then Ambassador to France, Lu Shaye, created a “we told you so” moment for Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania,

The French TV interview with China’s Ambassador to France, Lu Shaye, was already raising eyebrows real-time as the diplomat hesitated to respond to the host’s request to clarify the ambassador’s, and implicitly, China’s position: “Is Crimea, in your eyes, Ukraine?” After a short pause, Lu Shaye snickered and said: “It depends on how one perceives this problem. There’s history, isn’t it?”

What happened in the next seconds caused an international scandal: to drive his point on Ukraine home, the ambassador questioned the sovereignty of all countries that re-established or established independence as the USSR collapsed, as he said: “under the international law, even these countries of the ex-Soviet Union don’t have the effective status”.

It drew ire also from the Baltic states. And even though China rowed back soon later on its diplomat’s remarks and eventually found a replacement for the embassy in France, many label Beijing’s move as rhetoric as in February 2025, Lu Shaye was named Special Representative of the Chinese Government for European Affairs, a position he has been holding since.

So Vilnius may normalize the ties, but it will understand that the regime in Beijing isn’t a friend.