Manuel Monteiro says US ambassador “touches the wound” and calls for debate on China – News

The former centrist leader commented to the Lusa agency the statements made by the US ambassador, George Glass, in an interview with Expresso, published in Saturday’s edition, in which he considered that “Portugal has to choose between the allies and the Chinese”.

“As for the content, I believe that, as a Portuguese, I have political responsibilities in this country, that the ambassador says what I would like to be discussed in Portugal”, in the “Assembly of the Republic and in all possible and imaginary political forums ”, He stated.

In the view of the Christian Democratic activist, “the ambassador of the United States of America touches the wound when he warns of the need for a country like Portugal and, in particular, a country with the geographical position it occupies, define and discuss whether it wants to continue to deliver to China sectors that are strategic of the national affirmation and of the national affirmation at the international level ”.

“I am very sorry, as a former president of a party that has always fought for these matters, that this issue is not being debated from a political point of view, and I believe that more than just criticizing the US ambassador in a perspective that he is meddling in matters that only concern the Portuguese, we should be able to have a very deep and very serious political debate about whether or not China will be the country’s key strategic partner for the foreseeable future ”, He proposed.

Manuel Monteiro considered, however, that the way George Glass did it “was not the happiest”, as he made “public statements that diplomacy would advise to be made in private, in meetings with the Portuguese State’s interlocutors”.

“We can condemn the form, but we cannot ignore the content of what the US ambassador, and very well, came to say”, he stressed, despite agreeing with the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and with the Minister of Foreign Affairs , Augusto Santos Silva, who “is not an ambassador who tells the Portuguese what the Portuguese should do”.

But he asked: “What about the content of what he said, what is the position of the Portuguese State?”, Lamenting that “nobody debates this”.

The former leader noted that “it is strange” that China, which “already occupies extremely relevant strategic sectors such as REN and EDP”, can “be the future concessionaire of the Port of Sines”, infrastructure that “is objectively a very relevant landmark for the economic and political affirmation of certain countries, and in particular China ”, a State that“ when it intervenes economically it also intervenes politically ”.

Manuel Monteiro, who already alerted to this issue in the 90s, advocated that this is a subject “of the greatest political relevance for the future” and for the “definition of the national strategy”.

In the interview with Expresso, the American ambassador in Lisbon considered that “Portugal inevitably ends up being part of the battlefield in Europe between the United States and China”, and claims that this power “is a new China, with plans to long term to accumulate evil influence through economics, politics or other means “.

According to George Glass, “for the past three years” Portugal has looked to the USA as “friends” and “allies” in the field of security and defense and to the People’s Republic of China as “economic partner”.

The US ambassador argued that “you cannot have both” and that the Portuguese “have to make a choice now” between “working with security partners, allies, or working with economic partners, the Chinese”.

“It means that when we are talking about critical infrastructure and national security needs, they cannot work with China. We saw this with the start of 5G implementation and what it means for national security and the way we work with the allies, “he added.

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