Китай - Южный Кавказ: Сотрудничество в транспортно-логистических узлах «Пояса и пути»

The SC Countries Involvement in the BRI

China's New Silk Road (NSR) or BRI announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, particularly contributed to the strengthening of Beijing's position in the SC [Сергеев 2013]. The concept is based on five principles: political convergence, communication infrastructure, free trade, circulation of capital and the rapprochement of peoples. BRI aims to connect Asia and Europe via the ME, Africa and Central Asia (CA) through a series of vast networks of transcontinental railways, pipelines, ports, airports, and other infrastructure projects with up to US$ 1 trillion of Chinese investment. The BRI consists of the land corridors of the Economic Belt of the Silk Road (EBSR) and the sea lanes of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR). Building on a series of transport initiatives aimed at improving connectivity, the BRI envisages investment in both corridor and complementary infrastructures such as energy and information and communications technology (ICT) [Harutyunyan 2021a, P. 41-65].1

BRI became a powerful impetus for Chinese interests in the region. SC countries actively support the BRI, as it is in line with their foreign policy visions of serving advantageous strategic position of the region as an important corridor connecting Europe to Asia [Тасиц 2019, C. 80]. In 2015, China signed documents (protocol, declaration, memorandum) with Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. On March 9, 2015, the Georgian leadership was one of the first to sign a protocol of intent with China to jointly build the EBSR. Armenia and China adopted a Joint Declaration on the Further Development and Deepening of Friendly Cooperation Relations, as well as a Memorandum on Strengthening Cooperation in the Creation of the Silk Road Economic Belt in March 2015. Azerbaijan formally supported the Beijing BRI in December of the same year. During the visit of President Ilham Aliyev to China, the parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the joint construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt. In April 2015, Georgia and Azerbaijan became founding members of the China-based AIIB. In March 2017, the AIIB approved Armenia's application to join the financial institution [Тасиц 2019, C. 81]. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's historic visit to three SC countries in May 2019 testifies to Beijing's "cluster approach" to the `region`, and the agreements reached during the visit on the EBSR indicate that the SC may be part of China's geopolitical mega-project [Маркедонов 2019].

However, Beijing is not among the main creditors of the SC republics. Armenia completely lacks cooperation in the credit sphere with China. Georgia received only a US$ 141 million loan from the AIIB in July 2017 for the construction of a bypass highway in Batumi. In December 2016, China allocated a US$ 600 million loan to Azerbaijan through the AIIB for the construction of the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP) [Тасиц 2019, C. 87].

It should be noted that BRI aims to connect Europe and Asia, also with an ultimate goal of establishing a free trade zone (FTZ) [Li L. 2016, P. 8]. A future FTZ between China and the EEU is planned, which was agreed upon in May 2015 at the meeting of the leaders of Russia and China [PanARMENIAN.Net, 2015; РИА Новости 2015].

As part of the BRI, in May 2017, Beijing and Tbilisi, despite Georgia's declared course to join NATO and the EU, signed a free trade agreement (FTA), which was the first in its format in the entire post-Soviet space and came into force on January 1, 2018 [Маркедонов 2019].2 To speed up the process of concluding a FTA with China, Tbilisi relies on the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area agreement (DCFTA) with the EU, signed in 2013 and entered into force in 2016. That is beside FTAs with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) including Russia, as well as with Turkey and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) states (Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein). Market `access` is matched by a regime of low taxation, low regulation and high transparency, making Georgia one of the easiest places to do business in the world, according to the World Bank (WB) [New Europe 2016].

To establish the EBSR, China needs to properly handle its relations with existing integration organizations and the major powers involved. Within the EBSR there are currently a large number of regional cooperation organizations with varying economic cooperation programs, including Eurasian Economic Community (EEC), Customs Union, EEU,3 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC) [Li J. 2015, P. 12]. Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan are members of the BSEC. Armenia also is a EEU member. On July 10, 2015, at the SCO summit in Ufa, it was decided to admit Azerbaijan and Armenia to the SCO as new dialogue partners [Мокрецкий 2016, C. 152].