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1 Medea Ivaniadze China's Activities in the South Caucasus Issue 16

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1 Medea Ivaniadze China's Activities in the South Caucasus Issue 16 Medea Ivaniadze China’s Activities in the South Caucasus Issue 16, 14.6.2021 – 27.6.2021 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 Communist Party of China (according to the World Press Freedom Index China is nearly at the bottom of the list and ranks 177th out of 180 countries) ● Georgian officials and other figures participated in an event dedicated to the founding of the Communist Party of China ● Chinese Ambassador and Azerbaijani ruling party officials discussed inter-party cooperation ● Xi Jinping is ready to raise bilateral relations with Armenia to a new level ● Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister hopes that China-Georgia cooperation will be strengthened within the BRI ● In January-May 2021, China was Georgia’s third-largest trading partner ● Chinese Ambassador said that Armenia was one of the first countries to actively participate in the BRI ● Deputy Foreign Minister of Georgia says Georgia attaches great importance to the inflow of Chinese investments ● Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and China increases ● The National Centre for Disease Control and Public Health of Georgia is beginning a relationship with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention Read full publication: 14.6.2021 – 20.6.2021 Georgian officials and other public figures participated in an event dedicated to the founding of the Communist Party of China 1 Photo from the conference. Source: Jemal Putkaradze/Facebook On June 15, with the support of the Chinese Embassy in Georgia and Georgian Times media outlet, an international conference dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China was held in Zoom, entitled “Sharing positive experience and creating a better future together”. The Chinese Ambassador Li Yan delivered a welcoming speech on “the role of the ruling Communist Party of China in the development of the country - 100 years of experience”. The Ambassador talked about the Communist Party of China, its “achievements” and relations with Georgia. “Since its establishment, the mission of the Communist Party of China has been to achieve the happiness of people and national rejuvenation... The Chinese Communist Party supports the peace and the development of mankind, promoting the establishment of China as a central peacekeeping force in the world. China maintains an independent and sovereign, peaceful foreign policy, fights hegemony… supports the community with shared future for mankind,” Li Yan said. According to Li Yan, China has traditionally been a friendly country and an important partner of Georgia, relations between the two countries are developing steadily and healthily, and they are actively cooperating in various fields with the cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative also developing continuously. “The Chinese side stands ready to continue to deepen friendly ties and cooperation with Georgia, to share experience in state governance, to communicate and coordinate on important international issues, to share opportunities together for China and Georgia, these two ancient civilizations, to shine together,” Li Yan stressed. 2 Li Yan told the participants of the conference that they had been promoting Sino-Georgian relations for years, for which she thanked each of them. Deputy Foreign Minister of Georgia Alexandre Khvtisiashvili congratulated China’s ruling Communist Party of China on its 100th anniversary. He said that China was one of the most special countries in Georgia’s foreign relations. Deputy Foreign Minister also noted that Georgia attached great importance to the inflow of Chinese investments and expressed hope that this potential would be fully used. At the conference, the Director-General of the National Centre for Disease Control and Public Health of Georgia Amiran Gamkrelidze said that the National Centre was beginning a relationship with one of the “strongest international institutions, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention”. “I welcome that our relations are developing more and for that I would like to thank the Ambassador of China,” Gamkrelidze said. CEO of the Partnership Fund David Saganelidze discussed Georgia-China business relations. Giorgi Amilakhvari, the ruling Georgian Dream party MP and the head of the Friendship Group with the Parliament of the People’s Republic of China talked about prospects of Georgia-China cooperation. General Director of Georgia’s Chamber of Commerce, Georgia’s former Ambassador to China and a professor at University of International Business and Economics in Beijing David Aptsiauri presented Georgia-China economic cooperation topics. The Founder and President of Georgian Times Malkhaz Gulashvili said that Georgia-China relations have never been as intense as today, but according to him “this is not the limit”. He said Georgian Times had always tried to drive these processes and that they were holding the conference every year. According to him, the aim of the event was for Georgia to share the “positive experience” that China has achieved in the last 100 years, and “the major reforms” carried out since the Communist Party of China had come to power. Gulashvili also said that “the conference aims to provide information about the development of China to the general population of Georgia and share its experience as a very successful country.” Malkhaz Gulashvili announced that in the future, this format would be further expanded with plans to arrange a China-Georgia TV bridge, in which Chinese “experts” would be involved. According to a professor at Caucasus International University, a member of the International Association of Sinologists Vakhtang Maisaia, at the conference they talked about how Georgia can use China’s “successful” state-building experience. He said that China converged two systems, the capitalist and the socialist, and achieved considerable success. “The introduction of the Chinese experience in Georgia will be very good,” Maisaia stressed. The topic he discussed was “geostrategic and geopolitical aspects of the new world order and the formula for China’s center of global influence”. Simon Kiladze, “an international media expert,” said that Georgian Times was actively involved in a project where content about Georgian companies was spread in China, but Covid-19 and financial problems affected the project and it was suspended. Kiladze said he thought this cooperation should continue. The following figures discussed the following topics: 3 Deputy Minister of Agriculture Giorgi Khanishvili - Agro-industrial policy, the introduction of innovations. An adviser to the Georgian Minister of Agriculture and the Director of the Research Institute of China Studies at the Georgian Technical University Jemal Putkaradze - Georgian-Chinese geoeconomic success and achievements. President of Georgian National Academy of Sciences Giorgi Kvesitadze - China Agro-Industrial Policy. Tamar Koriauli, Acting First Deputy Head of the National Tourism Administration of Georgia - Opportunities for further development of cooperation between Georgia and China in the field of tourism. Alexander Guchua, associate professor at Caucasus International University - Experience of successful reform of Chinese statehood for Georgia. Director Goga Khaindrava - 113-year history of Georgian-Chinese relations. Vakhtang Charaia, Director of TSU Center for Analysis and Forecasting - Georgian-Chinese economic issues. The conference was moderated by Malkhaz Gulashvili, the Founder and President of the Georgian Times. Chinese Ambassador and Azerbaijani ruling party officials discussed inter-party cooperation, exchange of experience in state governance Photo from the meeting. Source: Chinese Embassy in Azerbaijan On June 15, the Chinese Embassy in Azerbaijan reported that the Ambassador of China in Azerbaijan Guo Min visited the headquarter of Azerbaijan’s ruling New Azerbaijan Party and discussed inter-party 4 cooperation and exchange of experience in state governance with the Deputy Chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party Ali Ahmadov and Deputy Chairman - Head of the Central Office of the Party Tahir Budagov. Guo Min noted that, thanks to the strategic planning and leadership of Xi Jinping and Ilham Aliyev, China-Azerbaijan relations were experiencing dynamic progress and fruitful results had been achieved in various fields. “China attaches great importance to inter-party cooperation with Azerbaijan. The Chinese Communist Party is ready to conduct an in-depth exchange of experience in the field of party building and state governance with the New Azerbaijan Party to further enrich the forms and content of cooperation between the two parties for the benefit of the two countries and their peoples,” the Chinese Embassy wrote. Akhmedov and Budagov congratulated Guo Min on the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China and noted that CCP regards the pursuit of happiness for the Chinese people and the rejuvenation for the Chinese nation as its original aspiration and mission and has made historic achievements that have attracted the attention of the whole world: “CPC’s experience in state governance should be learned by all countries of the world. The New Azerbaijan Party and the Communist Party of China, as ruling parties, both carry the same historical mission. We’d like to seize
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