Motorists pass over the newly built Peljesac bridge on July 26, 2022 in Komarna, Croatia after its opening ceremony. Photo: VCG

China's Foreign Ministry slammed a baseless allegation of the so-called "CPC's effect" in the Central and Eastern Europe Countries (CEEC), which was put forward by a US government-backed think tank.

The ministry revealed a series of data to show the economy growth and infrastructure progress in CEEC through cooperation with China, criticizing some Western officials and organization for intentionally damaging relationship between China and CEEC as the 10th anniversary of the Cooperation between China and CEEC draws near. 

Asked about the assessment of the "CPC's effect" alleged by the US State Department backed think tank the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), Mao Ning, China's foreign ministry spokesperson, said on Monday that such an assessment is full of baseless slandering, aimed to undermine China-CEEC relationship.

China and CEEC have built over 20 cooperation platforms in sectors covering trade and investment, bilateral communication, tourism and anti-pandemic since the cooperation initiated a decade ago. Over the past 10 years, the average annual trade growth rate witnessed 8-percent annualized growth, higher than the trade growth between China and Europe as a whole, said Mao.

In addition, the value created by multiple China-built infrastructure programs including the Hungry-Serbia Railway, Peljesac Bridge in Croatia and Piraeus Port in Greece was obvious, Mao noted.

Mao reaffirmed that China will not seek geopolitical benefit in the Central and Eastern Europe region, and always oppose the politicization of such cooperations. "We believe peoples in CEEC can recognize some Western organizations' attempts to destroy China-CEEC cooperation through lies and false information," said Mao. 

Global Times