The speculations

Lithuanian media are speculating why Chinese parliament chairman Li Peng curtailed his planned 5 September visit to Lithuania from two days to a few hours. Most believe that move was directly related to the second session of the international commission to evaluate communist crimes, which opened on 4 September at the Lithuanian parliament, BNS reported. Gediminas Kirkilas of the former Communist opposition Democratic Labor Party (LDDP) accused the Conservative-led government of "once again obscuring the country's international relations." Li, as speaker of China's parliament, was invited by his Lithuanian counterpart, Vytautas Landsbergis. Landsbergis, for his part, commented that "I do not think that every speculation and hint in the press should be commented on."