A Bulgarian delegation, led by Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Bulgarian Socialist Party Atanas Zafirov, was present at Xi Jinping's parade in China. Dora Yankova, Deputy Minister of Regional Development, was also part of it, but she was invited in her capacity as Chairman of the Socialist Women.
In the program “120 Minutes“ on bTV Yankova explained that they attended in their capacity as a party delegation, and the invitation came to the Bulgarian Socialist Party personally from the President of China, who is also the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping.
„I interpret this invitation as respect for Bulgaria and the socialist idea in Bulgaria. The invitation was timely, we made a decision at the executive bureau that a delegation would go. In my capacity as the Chairman of the Union of Socialist Women, I am grateful to the Chairman for inviting me to be part of this delegation. I think that after we requested leave, it should be known that we are going somewhere. The fact that he invited others to attend, he is the host and we do not set the rules of this parade," she said.
Asked if the Bulgarian delegation exchanged words with Lukashenko, Kim Jong-un and Putin, who also attended the event, she replied:
„Our invitation, I repeat, was from the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party. Then, during the reception, our Chairman has a long conversation with him, he has the opportunity to sit at the table with them – yes. But I think he did not go there to seek these contacts with these individuals." At the official table were the official heads of the delegations who were invited. At our table as a delegation, the representative of Japan was sitting and it was quite interesting," Dora Yankova said." I do not think that there should be any intrigue here. An inter-party cooperation, which in my opinion will be in the interest of the Bulgarian people, she added.
Yankova defined the PP-DB's request for the resignation of Atanas Zafirov as Deputy Prime Minister as “an effort to resolve internal party issues“. “I know many people who work, trade with China and position themselves in Chinese economic groups, so I find it that at the beginning of the political season they want to resolve internal party issues“, she added.
Asked whether, if the BSP received an invitation from Russia to attend one of their celebrations, it would send its delegation, Dora Yankova replied: “We are a collective party and if we receive such an invitation, we will discuss it together, and we will announce the decision“.