The State Department’s special envoy for the Western Balkans, Matthew Palmer has called on Montenegro’s top officials to exercise caution in their business relations with China during a recent official visit to that Balkan country.
Palmer’s comments during meetings with Montenegrin leaders during the visit on July 8 have brought about the reaction of the Chinese embassy in Podgorica.
The Chinese Embassy in response to the senior US diplomat said that the economic relations between China and Montenegro are built on the basis of mutual benefit.
The Chinese side is proud to see that Montenegro is strengthening cooperation relations with other countries, but we would not like to see other irresponsible countries point the finger at China-Montenegro relations, said the statement of the Chinese embassy posted on twitter on Saturday.
According to the embassy, the US official has called on Montenegrin state leaders to exercise caution over business relations with China.
US officials should look at their relationship with Montenegro and not worry about China-Montenegro relations, said the statement.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”und” dir=”ltr”><a href=”https://t.co/ZNaVB4m3B6″>pic.twitter.com/ZNaVB4m3B6</a></p>— Chinese Embassy in Montenegro (@ChineseEmbinMNE) <a href=”https://twitter.com/ChineseEmbinMNE/status/1413604046565412867?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>July 9, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
The Chinese embassy told Palmer that his visit to Podgorica should have focused on promoting US-Montenegro relations, rather than trying to damage China-Montenegro relations, and according to it, China-Montenegro relations are too strong to be damaged by his malicious words about China.
The statement of the Chinese embassy concluded by saying that China’s traditional image of friendship and cooperation in Montenegro and the Western Balkans region cannot be sabotaged by Palmer’s negative labeling of China. /Argumentum.al
