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CHINA WATCH

China's Activities in the South Caucasus Issue 74, 7.11.2022 – 13.11.2022

ავტორი: Medea Ivaniadze

The digest covers China's political, diplomatic, economic and other activities in the South Caucasus region and relations between China and the South Caucasus countries. It relies on a wide variety of sources, including the Chinese media. It is worth noting that the Chinese media is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (according to the World Press Freedom Index China is nearly at the bottom of the list and ranks 175th out of 180 countries) 

  • Armenia’s Defense Minister and Chinese Ambassador discuss cooperation in the defense field
  • 8% of Georgia’s residents consider China the most important economic partner for Georgia
  • Georgia’s European Socialists Chairman discusses ideas to popularize China’s governance model in Georgia
  • Chinese Ambassador met with Chairmen of Armenia's Republican Party and European Party of Armenia

Read full publication:

Armenia’s Defense Minister and Chinese Ambassador discuss cooperation in the defense field

A photo from the meeting. Source: Armenia’s Defense Ministry

On November 11, Armenia’s Minister of Defense Suren Papikyan received the Chinese Ambassador to Armenia Fan Yong and the newly appointed military attaché of the Chinese Embassy in Armenia Senior Colonel An Qian, Armenia’s Defense Ministry reported.

According to the report, the interlocutors “highly appreciated” the Armenian-Chinese bilateral relations. At the meeting, the two sides discussed the course of bilateral cooperation in the defense field, opportunities for development, and expansion.

The report also said that “the Minister of Defense presented to the Ambassador the situation created as a result of the latest Azerbaijani military aggression”.

 

8% of Georgia’s residents consider China the most important economic partner for Georgia

Source: IRI

On November 7, IRI published a poll entitled "Public Opinion Survey, Residents of Georgia - September 2022". The survey contained information about respondents' perceptions of China.

Only 3% of them consider China the most important political partner for Georgia. 2% think that China poses the greatest political threat to Georgia. 8% of respondents consider China the most important economic partner for Georgia, while 3% think that China poses the greatest economic threat to Georgia. It's noteworthy that respondents were permitted to provide multiple responses to the questions.

 

Armenia to ratify the agreement on technical and economic cooperation with China

News.am reported that Armenia would ratify the agreement on technical and economic cooperation signed with the government of China on November 15, 2021. Reportedly, the bill was approved at the meeting of the Armenian government on November 10.

 

Georgia’s European Socialists Chairman discusses ideas to popularize China’s governance model in Georgia

A photo from the meeting. Source: European Socialists

The Chairman of the parliamentary political group European Socialists Fridon Injia, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament Avtandil Enukidze and other the members of European Socialists met with the Chinese Ambassador of Georgia Zhou Qian, European Socialists reported on November 7.

According to the report, Fridon Injia said to the Ambassador of China that "in order to popularize China’s state governance model, the Chinese model [should] be introduced in any region or district of Georgia and its modernization [should] be done with the idea of ​​implementing economic or social projects". Injia said that it would be "good" to develop a specific plan or concept, "necessarily [based] on democratic principles,” which would contribute to the motivation of the population and “play an important role” in the economic and social development of a particular region.

Injia congratulated Zhou Qian on holding the 20th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party and thanked him for visiting the Parliament. “Our party fully shares the concept and the policy of governing the country, which the Chinese Communist Party implements in your country. The experience of the political leadership of the People’s Republic of China in managing the country, which they have accumulated over the years, is truly exemplary and a role model," Injia said.

Reportedly, the Chairman drew attention to the geopolitical role of Georgia, "which today provides the greatest opportunities for the implementation of various important economic projects in Transcaucasia”.    

According to the Chairman, it is also important to prepare a memorandum of cooperation in order to deepen the relationship between the two parties, which would contribute to further deepening and strengthening of the relations between the two parties and countries.

Enukidze also expressed support for China’s political course and said he considered it important to strengthen and deepen relations, both at the state level and in terms of close cooperation between the two parties. “The mood of our party is very positive in terms of deepening close cooperation with you, and of course, we support China’s sovereignty and its development,” Avtandil Enukidze said.

The Ambassador said that a special report was published at the 20th Congress, where the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party thanked the parties of various countries for cooperation, including the European Socialists. “You know how important it is to develop relations between Georgia and China at the diplomatic and legislative level. Also, it is very important to deepen trade relations between Georgia and China. In this regard, Georgia is one of the strategic partner countries for China," the Ambassador said. He also said that Georgia had a very important geopolitical place, and in this regard the implementation of strategic projects was very important. "It is also important to implement infrastructure projects in the field of logistics, which will greatly improve the direction of logistics in your country," Zhou Qian added.

 

Chinese Ambassador met with Chairmen of Armenia's Republican Party and European Party of Armenia

Tigran Khzmalyan and Fan Yong, Aram Sargsyan and Fan Yong. Source: The Chinese Embassy in Armenia

On November 10, the Chinese Embassy in Armenia reported that the Chinese Ambassador to Armenia Fan Yong met with Armenia's Republican Party Chairman Aram Sargsyan and the Chairman of the European Party of Armenia Tigran Khzmalyan.

On behalf of their parties they "warmly congratulated" the Ambassador on the “successful holding” of the 20th National Congress of the CCP and noted that "under the strong leadership" of the Chinese Communist Party, "the success of socio-economic development attracted the worldwide attention, the achievements of cooperation within the framework of the 'One Belt, one Road' Initiative spread to the countries adjacent to the Silk Road, and China's influence in the international arena increased significantly”.

The Chinese Embassy reported that the Armenian side was ready to adopt "the successful experience of China's economic and social development, develop the traditional friendship between the two countries and contribute to the strengthening of bilateral cooperation in various fields".

According to the report, China is ready to develop connections of friendly cooperation with various political parties, including the Republican Party and the European Party of Armenia, in order to bring bilateral relations to a new level, also play an active role in the joint construction of the 'One Belt, One Road' initiative and construction of 'community of the common destiny for mankind'".

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