Opinion | Georgia’s one-sided relationship with China comes with significant risks
The Georgian Government has increasingly moved to strengthen relations with China, hailing the economic potential of the partnership including high-profile infrastructure projects. But despite the optimism, the relationship has so far remained almost entirely one-sided, and in fact, opens the country up to substantial new risks.
Georgia’s foreign strategic alignment has been profoundly influenced by its geopolitical location, historical context, and aspirations for closer integration with Western institutions such as NATO and the European Union. However, in recent years, China has emerged as a significant player in Georgia’s foreign policy landscape. The two nations have actively sought to strengthen their political relations through a series of high-level visits and agreements, with Chinese initiatives in Georgia progressing at a remarkable pace, marked by significant expansions occurring almost monthly.
A pivotal moment in Sino-Georgian relations was the issuance of the Strategic Cooperation Statement on 31 July 2023, which heralded a new era of bilateral collaboration. The visit of then–Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili to China in 2023 culminated in this strategic partnership statement aimed at bolstering policy coordination and collaboration on regional and international affairs.
This partnership has been perceived as a strategic manoeuvre by China to expand its influence in the South Caucasus, a region traditionally regarded by Moscow as within its sphere of influence. The China-Georgia partnership can thus be viewed as part of a larger geopolitical shift in the region.
The ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the resulting geopolitical realignments have heightened the strategic importance of the South Caucasus. China’s involvement in Georgia could potentially reshape regional dynamics, particularly as it seeks to develop alternative trade routes that bypass Russia, exemplified by projects such as the Middle Corridor, which links China to Europe via Central Asia and the Caucasus.
But despite the deepening Sino-Georgian relationship since 2016, there is no significant economic activity that might be relied upon to reshape the existing dynamics. The progress and developments thus far have been largely one-sided, and the prospects for Georgia’s flagship project for the Middle Corridor, the Anaklia Deep-Sea Port, are not very promising.
And despite few gains, there are several concerns: from foreign policy to economic collaboration, with the cooperation appearing to be overwhelmingly China-centred in various ways.
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