On October 25, the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation convened a hearing on "Assessing the Department of State’s Strategy for Security in the Black Sea Region."

Speaking of Georgia's relations with China, James O’Brien, the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, asserted that the US has made it explicit that governments that would suborn the nations in which they operate, should not own vital infrastructure, including ports facilities like the one in Anaklia. According to O'Brien, the US is working to develop these other facilities in Georgia so that they're able to manage a great deal more traffic. "The US has also given a huge loan to a facility in the Poti. We will keep insisting on that. But part of it is also making sure that Anaklia is controlled by a firm that is open to working by the rule of law," O'Brien continued.

Elaborating on the EU Candidacy and the next parliamentary elections, O’Brien said the US is waiting for the initial UN election preparation Office Report to determine what the design of a long-term observation mission has to be. "We will work with the Georgian authorities to be sure that that election is as free and fair as we can make it using our very excellent partners, both international organizations and the Georgian people," O’Brien added.

O'Brien added that most Georgians support the EU integration, but the question is whether a small group of businesses and others with some political influence prefer being in a gray area.

On October 27, Gia Volski, the First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia, responded to O’Brien's recent remarks.

The First Deputy Speaker noted that he did not expect anything good from the Assistant Secretary because "his statements have always been hostile to Georgia." Volski emphasized, "James O’Brien works with Andrii Yermak [the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine], who is accused by Ukrainians themselves of taking into account the Russian interests."