Opinion: 'China's real strategic partner is not Georgia, but Russia'
Opinion on Georgia and China
According to Paata Zakareishvili, Georgian Dream is hypocritical, and its supporters allow the ruling party to mislead them. However, the political analyst argues that Georgian Dream will not be able to deceive the United States or the European Union.
Commenting on China’s decision not to support the UN General Assembly resolution on internally displaced people from Abkhazia and Tskhinvali, Zakareishvili said this demonstrates that China’s true strategic partner is not Georgia, but Russia.
Zakareishvili also commented on the upcoming EU–Georgia visa dialogue meeting scheduled to take place in Brussels.
According to the political analyst, the European Union will revoke visa liberalisation for Georgia because, in his view, Georgian Dream has done everything possible to bring about that outcome.
Paata Zakareishvili: “Georgian Dream’s ideas about America — that some kind of reset has taken place and that Georgia and the United States are equal partners — do not reflect reality. The United States has its own views. It believes that Georgia has changed course and abandoned its commitments to NATO and the European Union.
Georgian Dream is under the illusion that everyone in the US simply follows Trump. That is not the case. America is a country with strong institutions. Trump will leave, someone else will come, but the institutions will remain. In the United States, officials often even correct Trump’s statements. Georgian Dream seems to believe that because someone is president, that person decides everything. That is simply not true.
The latest US resolution also clearly showed that Georgia’s ties with Russia and China are unacceptable to Washington. For some reason, Iran was not included in the resolution, but Iran continues to be mentioned in this context everywhere and all the time.
We have undertaken obligations requiring our foreign policy to align with that of the European Union, yet Irakli Kobakhidze is violating those commitments. No one is saying that Georgia cannot have relations with China or Iran. But it must coordinate its relations with China with its relations with the European Union.
Yesterday, the leading states of the European Union announced that they would tighten accession conditions to avoid ‘surprises like Orban’ in the future. Countries joining the EU today will not have veto rights for several years, among other restrictions.
Where does our constitution mention China?
The main problem with Georgian Dream is hypocrisy. It claims to be moving towards the European Union while constantly attacking it. It does not openly say it is moving towards China, yet it praises China. Voters know they are being misled. Pushkin had a famous line: ‘I am glad to be deceived myself.’ Georgian Dream voters seem similarly content because they allow the government to deceive them. But the United States and the European Union cannot be deceived. They see these double standards.”
“China does not place much value on its strategic relationship with Georgia. I would like to remind experts that when several UN Security Council member states issued a letter in support of Georgia, China did not join it. There was no obstacle preventing China from doing so. Five or six countries backed Georgia, but China did not.
I can confidently say that China has never voted in support of Georgia — not now, and not in the past. Our so-called strategic partner always stays on the sidelines, even though one of the defining features of a strategic partnership is a willingness to defend the interests of that partner.
China’s real strategic partner is not Georgia, but Russia. Some may argue that Georgia is trying to distance itself from Russia. But let me remind you that around 70% of Belarus’s economy is linked to China, and that has not stopped Belarus from remaining a satellite state of Russia.
Do you know what Lukashenko and Ivanishvili need? They need powerful and influential countries to recognise their rule. Russia and China do not care what kind of regime you have in place.”
“The European Union is holding another technical meeting, but this is more than just a routine discussion. Such meetings assess whether a country continues to meet the conditions attached to specific arrangements. In this case, the issue is visa liberalisation.
The outcome of this meeting could show that Georgia no longer meets the requirements it fulfilled when it obtained visa-free travel. Last year, I said that Georgia faced no real risk of losing visa liberalisation. This year, I am no longer certain, because the authorities have escalated their attacks on the European Union to such an extent.
If I were a member of the European Parliament, I would certainly say that we do not need a state like this. People are dying in Iran, yet Iran does not have visa liberalisation. Why should we grant it to Georgians if they do not vote and allow their government to wield so much power against us?
Georgian Dream is deliberately acting in a way that could lead to the loss of visa liberalisation and then shift all the blame onto the European Union.”
Opinion on Georgia and China
