This is not very surprising as Saulius Skvernelis has been shown a pro-China bias for a long time. When China improved its ties with Taiwan and opened a Taiwanese Representative Office in Vilnius around the beginning of the pandemic, for example, Lithuania became the target of Chinese state-controlled propaganda media:
In its usual style, the Global Times published a series of articles to highlight Lithuania’s “dark history” focusing not only on accusations of inhumane treatment of refugees along the Lithuanian-Belarussian border, but also on the evaluation of Lithuania’s past wrongdoings’ such as with regards to the so-called CIA’s “black jails” and Lithuania’s role in the torture of prisoners. The Global Times also went as far as to condemn Lithuania’s “shocking past and present” including the country’s role in the Holocaust, nationwide discrimination and mistreatment of ethnic minorities.
While this might be hand-waved as the usual ramblings of the Chinese jingoistic media, Beijing’s official statements mirrored this approach. During his media conference, Chinese MFA spokesperson Zhao accused Lithuania of setting “double standards” and refusing to address the country’s appalling human rights situation. The accusations included some shocking statements such as “Since World War II, the racism in Lithuania towards Jews and other ethnic minorities remains a huge problem, ethnic minorities suffer from discrimination, their rights to access to medical care and freedom of movement are seriously violated.”
Shortly after, the Lithuanian Jewish Community (LJC) released a statement in which it “strongly rejects these accusations made by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. ” LJC stressed that “Lithuania is a democratic country that respects Lithuanian Jews’ and other citizens’ rights”, and that it “wishes that ethnic minorities in China could enjoy the same rights as Lithuanian Jews in Lithuania.”