Chinese Embassy in Georgia denounces US Ambassador’s comments on port project as “unprofessional”

The Chinese Embassy in Georgia on Friday denounced a recent remark made by Robin Dunnigan, the United States Ambassador to Georgia, around the involvement of a Chinese company in the construction of the Anaklia port project in the north-west of the country as “unprofessional”.

The comment came after the China Communications Construction Company was announced by the Georgian authorities as the winner in a tender for the major infrastructural project for facilitating Georgia’s role as a logistics and energy link between Central Asia and Europe.

We would like to point out that the assertions of the head of US Embassy in Georgia such as ‘China Communications Construction Company is majority owned by the Communist Party of China’, ‘the Communist Party of China and the People’s Republic of China is the number one bankroller and financier of the Russian military today’, are preposterous and seriously inconsistent with facts. The Chinese side strongly deplores such a statement”, the comment from the Embassy said.

The Embassy also said the American diplomat’s remark was “running counter” to the San Francisco vision established between presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden.

“The Chinese side also regrets the fact that the US diplomat showed no professionalism when making a statement”, the statement concluded.

Georgian Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili late May said the Chinese company would be announced as the Georgian Government’s private partner for the project.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Thursday said China was a “significant” trade partner for both the European Union and the United States, and called criticism of Georgia’s deepening economic relations with the country a “double standard”.