Hoxhaj: Kosovo’s integration into NATO and the EU is a response to China’s growing influence in the Balkans

Former Kosovo Foreign Minister Enver Hoxhaj has said that the country’s membership in NATO and the European Union, along with progress toward Euro-Atlantic integration across the region, should be seen as a strategic response to China’s growing influence in the Balkans.

Speaking at the IPAC Summit in The Hague, which he attended as a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, Hoxhaj said Beijing’s economic, military and technological engagement demonstrated its geopolitical ambitions in this part of Europe. He shared a video of the speech alongside a post.

“Kosovo and the Balkans cannot remain in Europe’s waiting room forever!” Hoxhaj wrote.

He said expectations that China’s growing presence, and particularly Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, would prompt a geopolitical awakening in Europe had yet to be fulfilled. According to Hoxhaj, rather than enlargement becoming a new source of strength for Europe, the region has remained mired in the status quo and stagnation.

Hoxhaj stressed that bringing Kosovo into NATO and the EU, alongside the Euro-Atlantic orientation of other Balkan countries, is the most effective way to counter the spread of Chinese influence from the region toward Europe.

He called for enlargement to be viewed as an initiative of geopolitical importance, closely tied to Europe’s own security and future prospects.