PRAGUE, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis on Thursday reiterated his country's sovereignty in international affairs after a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
"We are a sovereign country, we treat these countries quite standardly like everyone else," the prime minister said to Mlada fronta Dnes (MF Dnes), one of the largest newspaper in the country after Pompeo launched a tirade against Russia and China during his visit.
The prime minister also rejected Pompeo's push to force a new memorandum that would give a contract on constructing a new unit at the Dukovany nuclear power plant to an American firm, according to MF Dnes.
"I said (to Pompeo) that we are moving forward as a member of the EU, that there has been a similar situation in other similar bids, and that we cannot eliminate anyone to comply with EU rules. So I explained it to him clearly, and I think he understood," MF Dnes quoted Babis as saying about the construction of the power plant.
The prime minister also refused to rule out Chinese telecom company Huawei as a potential partner in 5G building despite Pompeo's push.
"We must tackle this problem within the EU. As for 5G tenders, we have no decision in this regard yet," he said.
Babis also noted that Czech President Milos Zeman told Pompeo on Wednesday that "the great powers should not be hostile to each other, but should have a common enemy, which is international terrorism." Enditem
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