Albania has added China in the list of countries like Russia, Iran and Turkey which, as it says, have increased in intent and interest in this Balkan country. The warning was made by the Albanian Defense Minister, Olta Xhacka, who met with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis at the Pentagon on April 17 this year, international news agencies reported.
"Apart from Russia's intention to expend its influence with destabilization actions, be that through their secret services or investments or other hybrid means or media propaganda, and scholarships, we also see an increase in intent and interest from other nations such as China or Iran," Albanian minister told Secretary Mattis as quoted by Balkan Insight on April 18, 2018. She pledged that Albania wanted to counter the influence of China, Iran and Turkey, while, in the meantime she envisioned the Adriatic country's making its land, air and naval bases available to the United States. "You can count on us to be a very trusty ally ... Albania could really be a stronghold of the United States in the region. We believe that the time might be ripe for a footprint of United States in Albania," said Xhacka.
It goes without saying that the United States is the staunchest strategic ally of Albania. Since March 15, 1991 when the diplomatic relations were restored between the two countries this partnership has kept strengthening and diversifying. Proclamation of Kosovo's independence is a landmark in the chronology of the US support to Albanian people.
Likewise, as politics and economics cannot be seen in isolation their relationship has been expressed the Albanian-US ties in the field of economy, business and trade, and other fields. Since 1992, USAID has delivered over 500 million dollars in foreign aid to support Albania's development, stability, and integration into Europe. USAID's programs in Albania strengthen democratic institutions, promote civil society, reduce corruption, support equality and stimulate inclusive economic growth- all necessary to move Albania forward more quickly towards greater democracy while meeting criteria that are essential to achieving its European aspirations.
In addition the Treaty between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Albania Concerning the Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection of Investment, with Annex and Protocol, was signed in Washington on January 11, 1995 and it entered into force in 1998.
"Since the year 1992 and up to now, the exports of Albania to the US amount to more than 800 million dollar (or an annual average of more than 30 million dollars), while imports are estimated to be about 700 million dollars (an annual amount of 27 million dollars)," said Zef Preci, a former member of the Board of the American Chamber of Commerce (2001-2002). According to him, in 2007 exports grew two times, while imports five times at an annual level as compared to 1992. He revealed that Albania has the right to free tax on export to the US in accordance with the global preferential system, and the goal of the program is to give these imports a competitive advantage in the US market.
"Regardless of the modest level of the trade exchanges, the economic relations between the two countries have experienced a significant growth, especially after the year 2000 when the American Chamber of Commerce was created with the aim of promoting the local economic development; monitoring of the legislation and politics which influence on the competition, economic developments and business, offering an effective partner, an mediator between government, businesses and media," said Preci. "AmCham should be especially evaluated for its contribution to the building of an effective dialogue between the Albanian government and the business community turning gradually into a strong voice of the business with integrity asking for "clear rules of the game" of the market economy, contemporary legislation and rule of law in the Albanian economy," the former AmCham Board member, an expert in economic studies said.
It should be highlighted that the US has consistently supported Albania's efforts to join the European Union encouraging it to improve the rule of law, to pursue transparent elections and political cooperation, to fight corruption as it seeks accession to the Club. It is significant Washington's endeavor along with the EU for the implementation of the judicial reform as a key element for the strengthening of democracy in Albania. Albania and Macedonia have recently got the positive recommendation by the European Commission to open the EU accession talks.
Albania Must Become an Economic Magnet
Any expectation that Albania's economic development can be promoted putting all the eggs into one basket sounds a bit naive and the 28-year transition is the best testimony of it. I will never forget how worried US State Department officials were when the former State Secretary James Baker returned home from a visit to Tirana in May 1991 during which he granted a six million 'cheque' to Albania. "Albanians apparently expect to see US dollars falling from the sky," a close connection of mine in the State Department told me a few days after Baker's visit in New York. "We are really worried about their expectations."
So, in a nutshell, along with the building of democracy, Albanians needed to get out from the self-isolation mentality and diversify the sources of economic cooperation and make the country attractive to foreign investors.
A speech by Prime Minister Edi Rama held in a seminar with Albanian Ambassadors on August 24, 2017 is very meaningful in this respect. "What we need as soon as possible, is that we must be maximally active, organized and professional to put the country and its advantages, potentials, opportunities, our working and development plans, our concrete projects for today and tomorrow, our natural wealth and our cultural and spiritual heritage before all the eyes interested or curious of foreigners as a magnet to help the country, the economy and the welfare of our people," said Rama.
It was at that seminar that Mr. Rama unveiled his ambitions on the so-called economic diplomacy, which, according to him, must be the central pillar of diplomats' daily activity. "Contacts with business operators, chambers of commerce, tour operators, analysis of models and practices of others should be a top priority on your agenda," Mr. Rama advised.
Seeing things from such a broad angle Premier Rama has paid special attention to the exploitation of potentials of the cooperation with all the countries, including China, in the mutual benefit. So Mr. Rama has told Chinese Premier Li Keqiang that Albania values relations with China and has high hopes for development of bilateral ties. "Albania welcomes China's role in infrastructure and hopes to expand cooperation in agricultural trade and tourism," Rama said, adding that his country was willing to streamline visa access for Chinese people.
In the meantime President Ilir Meta, who was in Beijing in his capacity as Speaker of Parliament in October 2016, was quoted by 'Forbes' (March 10, 2017) as saying, "We have a long history together that really came out of forming an alternative to Soviet communist ideology. I think that history helped make the transition into the more economic, pragmatic relationship we have now." Mr. Meta has been speaker since 2013 and was head of the Socialist Movement for Integration. "China invests in Albania. We have a robust trading partnership with them now and it's beating our traditional partners in Europe," he said, adding that certain regulations also made it harder to close business deals with Europeans.
China Case in Albania's Search for Diversified Sources
The so-called Albanian-Chinese ideological and political romance of 1960-1970 after Tirana's split from the former Soviet Union took another form after the fall of communism in the beginning of 1990s becoming an economic attraction. The period 1978-1991 saw a freeze of Albanian- Chinese relations because of ideological disagreements.
After 1992, slowly but steadily following the principles of non-interference in internal affairs and mutual benefit China has focused on development projects in Albania, and as a result last March 2016 the huge Asian country of a 1.4 bn population became Albania's second-largest trading partner, leaving behind traditional trading partners like Greece and Turkey. Within the top five trading partners, no one has accounted for export growth out of Albania like the Chinese, up over 6,000%.
Diversifying sources of investment, from China and elsewhere, is in principle a good thing. These countries don't have a monopoly on corruption, firms from the West also engage in it. Also, foreign investment, whatever the source, cannot be the only or even main driver of development, has said Joan Hoey, Regional Director for Europe at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), one of the leading research and forecasting enterprises in the world. Ms. Hoey, who is also the editor of EUI's Democracy Index, one of the most famous worldwide democracy indexes in use today, made those remarks in an interview to EWB portal on the eve of commemoration of the 10th anniversary event of the European Fund for the Balkans, organized in Belgrade on 16-17 April this year, where she was the main speaker.
It is true that China is pursuing investment opportunities in infrastructure in order to enhance its connectivity with the European region under the 16+1 format, which includes eleven countries from central and eastern Europe and five from the Balkans (CEEC), including Albania. The 16+1 Initiative is a key component of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to integrate the Asian country more deeply into the world economy.
The initiative, launched by President Xi Jinping in 2013, underpins China's economic and geopolitical vision to connect it with the world. Considered as the biggest foreign investment by any one country since the US Marshall Plan, the BRI project spans 70 countries and aims to connect Central Asia with Europe, Africa, and Oceania through investment and trade in the areas of energy, infrastructure, and transformation.
Does China's Influence in the CEE Transcends Economic Interests?
It is a matter of fact that on the political front the diplomatic relations have strengthened between China and several European countries. In November last year, China promised 3 billion dollars in investment funds to the CEE at the fifth annual summit of the 16+1 framework in Budapest as Chinese leaders were joined by the heads of the sixteen countries.
Most of the Balkan countries have welcomed the Chinese investments seeing them as opportunities to create jobs, upgrade infrastructure, and enhance economic competitiveness as parts of Europe continue to suffer the consequences of the financial crisis. Serbia represents one of the countries to benefit from Chinese investment and strong political ties. Serbia, one of the Balkan countries applying for accession to the EU, has welcomed Chinese investment to improve its railways, roads, and energy plants. On his visit in June 2016, Xi Jinping said that Serbia was the point where civilizations of the west and east meet, suggesting the importance of the Balkan country to China's BRI.
China sees Europe as pivotal to the revival of the old Silk Road, which launched China's regional development over 2000 years ago. Chinese investment could be critical in building and upgrading energy plants, railways, motorways, and airports.
Some of the big deals in the CEE involving Chinese investment include a 3 billion euros expressway connecting Montenegro and Albania; a 1.4 billion euros linking the Bosnian municipalities of Banja Luka and Mliniste; and a 1 billion euros project in the Czech Republic to create a Y-shaped canal connecting the waterways of the Danube, the Oder, and the Elbe. Moreover, last November Serbia began construction of the China-funded railway from Belgrade to Budapest worth around 3.2 billion euros.
Do Chinese Investments Harm Albania's Interests?
The Professor of Political History and International Relations, Dr. Enver Bytyci has an answer to this questions put by Albanian Daily News.
According to him, any excessive presence in Albania and the region can be considered as dangerous because it can get imposed on the developing politics of certain countries. "In this sense, the Chinese presence as well, even if it is economic, should be considered as such," he thought.
But the Chinese initiative of investments in central and south-eastern Europe does not carry such an effect, according to him.
"It seems that China has unexploited financial resources. Their investments in Albania would bring about development," he said, excluding any danger from them. "The Chinese 'threat' cannot be taken into consideration in a mid-term period. This is so because China has followed and follows a defending policy and strategy," said Professor Bytyci.
On the other hand, he did not see any reason why China could be a hostile power towards Albania.
The history of Albanian-Chinese relations have experienced ups and downs during the last decade but it has never happened that they turned into substantially hostile.
"The more so China cannot be seen as a hostile power towards us. The only problem between us is Kosovo," said the Professor. China, a UN Security Country member with a veto power, does not recognize Kosovo.
"The Chinese investments cannot be compared with those of Russia and even with those of Turkey. And I stress this as the excessive presence of today's Turkey seems dangerous to me because of the empire ambitions demonstrated by the Turkish president," said Bytyci.
As a conclusion it can be said that in today's world global developments it is noted an increase of interdependence between the political developments and their reflection on the economic aspect of such a process. Albanians should not nourish the expectation of the wrong dream that 'Albanian problems' can be resolved only from outside, that is by the US and EU. This 'dream' is totally based on wrong ideas rather than on the reality of the matters.
President Ilir Meta put it rightly as he was quoted by Forbes on March 10, 2017 when he said: "We are on the road to European integration... Our only hope is that the EU investment here will improve. China sees us as an opportunity. We are happy to have them." Economic development is the overriding concern, and the strengthening of the relations with China is a path with many opportunities, noted President Meta.