Montenegro should turn towards West and the Western values, said President of the Atlantic Council of Montenegro Savo Kentera at the seminar entitled „The EU, China and the Western Balkans: Challenges and perspectives for the future integration“, which has been organized at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Montenegro.
Kentera emphasized that China benefited from the EU’s slow response and employed clever diplomacy to present itself as a savior, not only in the Western Balkans but beyond.
At the seminar, he warned that we need to be extra careful and that we should not overlook the role of the United States and the European Union during both the COVID-19 pandemic and in all other situations.
„China is not using the COVID-19 crisis and launching infrastructure projects in the Western Balkans for the sake of the regional countries; it is doing that to enter Europe and to position itself within the European Union“, Kentera emphasized.
The President of the Atlantic Council of Montenegro added that the Unites States and the European Union must develop prompt-reaction mechanisms. „If they were not present in the Western Balkans, no one will have a right to be angry when China, Russia or some third party take over this part of the Western Balkans“, Kentera highlighted.
When it comes to the future cooperation between Montenegro and China, Montenegro should go after things that are in its best interest, without jeopardizing its European path, the President of the Atlantic Council concluded.