President’s Administration Clarifies with Chinese Ambassador President’s Interview Remarks
On November 14, the Head of the President’s Administration, Natia Sulava, met with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of China to Georgia, Zhou Qian, the Presidential Administration said today.
At the meeting in the Orbeliani Palace, Sulava clarified that during President Zurabishvili’s interview with the French media LCI, there was no reference made to Sino-Georgian relations, or specifically, to the President of China, Xi Jinping by the President. Instead, “the entire interview was devoted to EU-Georgian relations, Georgia and Russia. Accordingly, the President’s answer concerned only the President of the country, which has the Georgian territories occupied,” – reads the statement of the President’s Administration.
Today’s meeting followed the Georgian Prime Minister’s meeting with Chinese Ambassador Zhou Qian on November 13. According to the press service of the Government Administration, at the meeting, in addition to discussing cooperation between the two countries, PM Garibashvili commented on President Zurabishvili’s interview with LCI, telling the Ambassador that the Georgian President’s wording was “categorically unacceptable and alarming”. Garibashvili accused Zurabishvili of violating the Georgian Constitution “by harming the state interests, pursuing individual activities and making personal assessments of international affairs that are not aligned with the government position, as a result of which the international image of the country suffers.”
Garibashvili stressed that since Georgia is a parliamentary republic, the President has no right to conduct the country’s foreign policy. He stressed that carrying out the foreign policy of the country is the exclusive discretion of the government, adding that any of the President’s statements do “not even formally express the attitude of the Georgian authorities towards the state and leader of China,” – reads the statement. In the end, Garibashvili expressed his hope that the statements made by Zurabishvili would not affect or damage the relations between the two countries.
On November 10, President Salome Zurabishvili gave an interview to the French media LCI. In the interview the journalist asks the following question: “Do you yourself hope that Putin and his followers will one day be put on trial? It seems a long way off, [because] Xi Jinping – for the genocide of the Uyghurs, [and] Vladimir Putin for the accusations of not only of war crimes, but also of crimes against humanity. Is it your personal wish they be tried, of course we are talking about Putin first of all, because this is what concerns you…
- 10/11/2023 – President Zurabishvili Speaks to French Media
President Zurabishvili said: “I believe with my inner faith that it would be a historical outcome that would put some things back in their place,” Zurabishvili said and added that she doesn’t not see that perspective as realistic.” The President did not mention the Chinese president throughout the interview, including in this specific response, which was a point stressed today at the meeting in Presidential administration.
Quotes from the interview are translated from the original in French.
Also Read:
- 18/10/2023 – Georgian Parliament Fails to Impeach President Salome Zurabishvili
- 12/08/2023 – PM Garibashvili Touts China Ties in CGTN Interview
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)
