US Representative Joe Wilson, co-chair of the US Helsinki Commission, told lawmakers that the ruling Georgian Dream party has effectively handed over Georgia’s infrastructure to the Chinese Communist Party, a move he said threatens Western access to a key East-West trade route.
Wilson made the remarks on March 5, during a Helsinki Commission hearing on “Responding to Chinese Infiltration and Coercion in Europe.” He said that Georgian Dream has essentially sold Georgia’s infrastructure to the Chinese Communist Party and sold the country into debt slavery. “America’s access to the Middle Corridor is essentially controlled by the Chinese Communist Party,” he added.
At the hearing, Wilson described what he called the increasingly similar and sophisticated tactics used by authoritarian governments, which he said are alarmingly facilitated by technology and innovation. He alleged that the government of Bidzina Ivanishvili and its Georgian Dream party had imprisoned opposition leaders, ignored the wishes of the Georgian people for freedom and prosperity, rejected alternatives to what he described as China’s “debt trap diplomacy,” and accepted Chinese support for surveillance technology and propaganda to suppress pro-Western sentiment. He also suggested that Russia, particularly through Ivanishvili’s former business base, has compounded geopolitical concerns.
The Middle Corridor is a trade and transport route that runs from China and Central Asia through the South Caucasus to Europe, bypassing Russia. Wilson said the corridor is critical for securing and diversifying global supply chains and warned that Chinese influence in Georgia could complicate Western access.
Wilson’s remarks were made at a congressional hearing and are supported by reporting on the event. The Helsinki Commission regularly holds hearings on geopolitical and human rights issues, and this session focused on Chinese influence in Europe. Many of Wilson’s characterizations, such as selling the country into debt slavery or direct Chinese control of infrastructure, are political assertions made during the hearing and are not independently verified as factual findings.
The Government of Georgia has not confirmed the allegations and emphasizes balanced foreign relations with both Western partners and other global powers. Officials reject claims that ties with China undermine sovereignty or commitments to European integration.
The comments come during broader debates in Washington about Georgia’s democratic trajectory, Chinese economic ties, and strategic competition with Beijing and Moscow in the South Caucasus. US lawmakers have previously introduced measures such as the MEGOBARI Act, aimed at strengthening democratic institutions in Georgia and countering influence from authoritarian powers.
By Team GT
