'China carries the weight of responsibilities of a superpower,' Slovenia's president tells CGTN

"Slovenia always had a good relationship with China." Those were the words that President of Slovenia, Nataša Pirc Musar, said in the beginning of our interview. 

For decades, her country has been working on establishing good relations with the rest of the world. Some say that was the reason why, in 2023, Slovenia was overwhelmingly voted as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council (UNSC). The country took its place in the UNSC on January 1 this year.

"Basically, we are trying to cooperate with everybody." Pirc Musar said. "Being a small-sized country, you know, it's a necessity to be open-minded."

She added: "The push for a better relationship in the last couple of years was also the decision of the Slovenian government to send many business delegations to China. 

"Of course, we do have a deficit in bilateral trade. That's the obvious fact. But in the last couple of years, we sent four business delegations to China to see what China can offer and definitely what Slovenia can offer to China."

One example of economic collaboration came in 2018, when Chinese multinational electronics and appliance company Hisense bought Slovenia's Gorenje. 

An appliances giant itself, but one on the verge of collapse, Gorenje was not just brought back to life by Hisense's $380 million acquisition, but also helped to expand it into a EU-wide brand. 

It was a move that brought Slovenia and China closer than ever before.

"China's role is a big role." Slovenian President continues, explaining her take on China's role in the world. "China is a superpower, like the United States, like some other big countries. And this is the reason why the obligation of superpowers is on a high level. 

"But the permanent five countries of the Security Council, they bear a huge responsibility for maintaining peace and security. China is one of them. We must not discuss peace and security in this planet without China at the table. That's the fact." 

She also emphasised her fear of a possible devastating global conflict. "We currently do have 55 armed conflicts around the globe, which is the highest number after the Second World War. The respect of international law is a must."

However, the elephant in the room, according to President Pirc Musar, is not war, but the neglect of our environment.

"When we do discuss enemies on this planet, we only have one common one, and that's climate crisis," said Pirc Musar. "China is doing a lot on green energy. To be honest, I was not really very pleased to hear that President Trump said that he's not going to respect the Paris Agreement. 

"Multilateralism is something that we have to believe in, because this is something which could bring prosperity and peace. And one more thing. Whenever there is a conflict, war is not the tool to solve the problem. Negotiations are. Open dialogue is."