TBILISI, November 6 – Tensions grew between Georgia’s government and U.S. lawmakers this week as a senior member of Congress accused Georgia’s ruling party of undermining American security interests by handing control of its key Black Sea port to Chinese state-linked companies and persecuting Western investors.
Republican Congressman Joe Wilson accused Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party of undermining American security interests by allowing Chinese state-linked companies to gain influence over it’s port on the Black Sea, a likely reference to the the Anaklia deep sea port project. Writing on X (formerly Twitter), Wilson claimed that the “anti-American Georgian Dream regime” endangered U.S. access to transport routes for critical minerals through the so-called Middle Corridor, which connects Central Asia with Europe.
“The regime threatens U.S. port and overland access to Middle Corridor minerals, transferring its port to the Chinese Communist Party and persecuting reputable investors for mafia-style corruption,” Wilson wrote, warning that China’s growing control of trade routes posed “a threat to U.S. economic and national security.”
Wilson’s comments came shortly after Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted Central Asian leaders in Washington for the tenth anniversary of the C5+1 partnership, emphasizing new trade and investment deals intended to boost American exports and strengthen regional economies.
At the same time, Georgia’s government reacted angrily to a separate bipartisan letter sent by U.S. senators and representatives to Secretary Rubio. The lawmakers urged the State Department to demand guarantees from Tbilisi that former USAID employees and other U.S.-affiliated personnel in Georgia would not face political harassment or smear campaigns amid what they described as growing anti-American rhetoric.
The letter called on the State Department to “respond firmly” to what it said were “dangerous falsehoods” spread by Georgian Dream officials that had “endangered former American personnel.”
Archil Gorduladze, chairman of the Georgian parliament’s legal affairs committee, dismissed the letter as politically motivated and inconsistent with the position of the current U.S. administration. He said it was “unimaginable” that members of Congress were defending USAID staff whom “the U.S. president’s own administration has called corrupt.” Gorduladze also attacked the use of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty as a source, calling it “a propaganda outlet” according to the same administration.
He accused what he called “deep state–controlled actors” in Washington of spreading misinformation and claimed the correspondence was aimed at helping Georgia’s opposition create anti-government narratives. “Ultimately, all of this is directed against the national interests of Georgia,” he said.
