Lithuania eyes sharing Ukraine-tested maritime tech with PCG

MANILA, Philippines — Lithuania is looking to bring maritime security technologies emerging from the war in Ukraine to the Philippine Coast Guard, Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said, part of a widening security partnership between the two countries.

Budrys said he discussed the technologies with PCG officials during a July 23 visit to the service's headquarters in Manila, describing them as systems that would make the coast guard's work easier. 

"I had a really good exchange with the Philippine Coast Guard on some technologies that would make their work — important work for the international community — easier," Budrys told Philstar.com in an interview on July 23. 

"We are talking about some technologies that ... concern the protection of the sea routes," he added. 

The Lithuanian minister noted that Russia's war in Ukraine has become the main driver of development in the defense industry and in dual-use technologies.

"We have to use everything that we see is developing so fast in Ukraine, in their efforts and brave efforts to defend themselves, and also turn those technologies — the usable ones — in the peacetime for our own good," he said.

Beyond maritime hardware, Budrys said Vilnius is offering "niche" high-tech capabilities, particularly in cybersecurity.

The PCG said in a statement Monday that both sides agreed to establish a technical working group to explore cooperation in cybersecurity, professional training, and marine environmental protection, among others.

Lithuania denounces Chinese vessels' behavior

Budrys' visit comes amid heightened tensions in the West Philippine Sea. 

Lithuania has been among the most outspoken European critics of both Russian aggression and Chinese coercion, particularly after facing Beijing’s trade boycotts over its ties with Taiwan.

Prior to his meeting with the PCG, Budrys told Philstar.com he had been closely following the reported incidents of harassment faced by the Coast Guard in the West Philippine Sea.   

On the day of Budrys's visit, the PCG had reported the China Coast Guard's (CCG) use of water cannons on Philippine vessels conducting a humanitarian fuel subsidy mission near Scarborough Shoal.

Two days earlier, the PCG reported that CCG personnel had physically clubbed a Navy serviceman near Ayungin Shoal.

"We were following the incidents that were happening in the West Philippine Sea, with the vessels that were acting under different covers of the civilian vessels coming from China," he told Philstar.com. "Those developments were really disturbing and [something] that all of the international community has to have its position on."

He called the incidents breaches of international law and of UNCLOS.

Budrys also drew a parallel with the Baltic Sea, where Lithuania and its neighbors have reported repeated damage to undersea cables and power links.

At least eleven cables in the Baltic region have been severed or damaged since October 2023, caused by incidents of shadow vessels dragging their anchors across the seabed, making criminal intent difficult to prove under maritime law.   

"Those affected countries have to share their experience and ways on how to protect ourselves within international law, even understanding that the other side is not respecting it," Budrys said, warning that compromises in one theater threaten global stability. 

"If we cannot apply it here, why should it be applied somewhere else — for example, in the Strait of Hormuz?" he added.

Lithuania was among 14 nations that recently marked the 10th anniversary of the 2016 South China Sea arbitral award — the landmark Hague decision that invalidated China’s expansive claims — reaffirming that the ruling remains legally binding.   

China's foreign ministry rejected the statement, which it said "disregards the basic facts of the South China Sea."

The Philippines and Lithuania last year signed a defense cooperation agreement that included a focus on cyber- and maritime security.