Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has reported on Sino-Georgia partnership in its article “The Controversial Company That Opened The Door For China’s Growing Influence in Georgia”. The article overviews Sino-Georgia’s business deals, with a particular focus on the notorious Chinese company CEFC, where Georgia’s current PM, Irakli Gharibashvili, served as an advisor and which owns 75% of Poti FIZ. “Civic IDEA was the first to call attention to CEFC’s work in Georgia and Chinese investments in the country. According to the NGO’s research, every infrastructure project in Georgia worth more than $100 million since Garibashvili returned as prime minister in 2021 has involved Chinese firms.“
The report presents the update of Civic IDEA’s last year’s take on “Can Russia find more friends and support in the war against Ukraine? – position and reactions of Central Asian Countries” (See https://civicidea.ge/en/3712-2/new/), overviewing the range of tactical and strategic narratives expressed by Central Asian states during the initial four months of the Russia-Ukraine war. The updated version aims to explore the shifts and changes in the positioning of the Central Asian countries on Russian aggression against Ukraine, as well as the great East-West power competition and the leverage of the region’s two authoritarian neighbors, Russia and China in various domains such as politics, international platforms, economics, military cooperation, and disinformation campaigns.
On August 7, Civic IDEA organized an online meeting, “Devil is in the details – A discussion on China-Georgia Strategic Partnership”, where international experts participated and discussed the risks related to the strategic cooperation signed by Georgia with China on July 31. The event was moderated by the chairwoman of Civic IDEA, Tinatin Khidasheli and the speakers involved: Glenn Tiffert – Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Co-chair of Hoover’s project on China’s Global Sharp Power; Martin Hala – Founder and Director of Synopsis.cz; Laura Harth – Campaign Director at Safeguard Defenders; Mareike Ohlberg – Senior Fellow in the Asia Program at the German Marshall Fund, Germany.
As it is known from the strategic partnership document, Sino-Georgian cooperation will be strengthened and intensified in four dimensions. Those are
Political
Economic
People to people and cultural cooperation, and
International.
Thus the discussion aimed at addressing the essence of strategic partnership, the potential for the materialization of the promises made, and the risks associated with it. The first logical question is: why does a small state like Georgia represent such a priority for China, and how does the strategic partnership with the PRC work in the future?
Here is the summary and are some of the takeaways from the discussion:
The basic idea of such strategic partnerships is to make the world a safe place for the Chinese Communist Party and the PRC to operate in general with less criticism on the international level by facilitating free export-import relations, establishing trade routes that benefit the PRC and ensuring the state’s security. Small countries in the UN system have the right to vote and have a prominent place. The strategic partnership with China makes the small states obliged to vote in favor of its needs, while in response to this, they become dependent on China’s goodwill in terms of certain economic benefits. China has been building the alternative, post-western international world order by offering
Belt and Road Initiative in 2013,
The Global Development Initiative in 2021,
The Global Security Initiative in 2022,
The Global Civilization Initiative in 2023.
Ensuring PRC’s leverage on small states is precisely the main objective behind the GSI, the GDI, and the GCI that are signed within the strategic partnership. The PRC uses such partnerships to demonstrate to the world that various states are signing its “anti-hegemonic”, “multipolar”, “tolerant” initiative.
At the initial stage of the strategic partnership, there is no concrete content behind it. Nonetheless, content is filled gradually once the small states adhere to their support for the PRC and its global policy direction. The current document does not commit Georgia to pursue any specific course of action. There exists certain freedom in principle for Georgians to decide their own fate. Nonetheless, the PRC will exert significant political pressure on Georgia, making it committed to certain principles that go against NATO membership or any other Western institution. With signing the agreement, Georgia concedes a lot, accepting all of the PRC’s main initiatives without any reciprocity from China.
As for the country-specific interests, in Georgia’s case, deep sea ports (Anaklia and Poti Fiz), Georgia’s role in securing trade routes to Europe alternative to the ones crossing the Russian territory, contracts for Chinese companies operating in the infrastructure sector remain crucial to deepen the relations further and attract the Chinese investments which have not been materialized yet in a full-scale. Together with that, strategic partnerships usually cause economic entanglement, in the end resulting in economic coercion. In other words, increasing economic dependence on China is dangerous due to the non-existence of legal mechanisms to stop the pressure from Beijing and its preferences.
The PRC and Russia both claim to crave peace and stress the multipolarity, while they crave the lack of accountability and enforcement against the Authoritative powers for them to secure themselves from being accused of human rights violations, achieve corruption deals easily etc. Usually, any action that weakens Russia and its interests does not benefit the PRC either, as, despite all differences in interests, both authoritarian powers are united against the West and especially the liberal democratic world order. It is also visible when it comes to the war in Ukraine, where the PRC maintains “neutrality” portrayed in disinformation campaigns, military and economic support, and benefiting Russian interests.
Moreover, the Sino-Georgian strategic partnership is directed towards neutralizing Georgia’s potential to join NATO and the EU and become the sole South Caucasian member of these alliances. Georgia sits in the middle both geographically (playing a significant role in the middle corridor initiative) and geopolitically (aspiring to join the Western alliances, the EU and NATO). While the balance of power between Russia and China is shifting nowadays due to weakened Russia amid the Western sanctions and the war in Ukraine, the PRC might pursue more assertive policies in South Caucasus and Central Asia. Therefore, the PRC will try to break Georgia away from the Western trajectory and bring it closer to its own orbit.
In addition to that, the Global Security Initiative (GSI) requires special attention due to its unspoken content, including dubious and controversial principles such as “Indivisible Security”. This notion originated from the Soviet Union and integrates the idea that violation of the state’s national sovereignty by another state can be justified once the other’s (violator’s) strategic interests are put in jeopardy. Consequently, the “indivisible Security” legitimated Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The efforts made by Georgia and China very much resemble the occurrences in Central and Eastern Europe, such as the 16+1 initiative 10 years ago. Back then, many European states were craving for boosted political and economic partnership with the PRC, signing agreements and accepting offerings from Beijing while unaware of what they were signing for. Besides, the agreements were usually signed unexpectedly, without any pre-conditions, lacking democratic debate and transparency. Unsurprisingly, such agreements have either never been realized or caused negative results. The geopolitical situation is changing very quickly, especially with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and playing both East and West scenarios is becoming impossible. Central and Eastern European leaderships have acknowledged this; however, this occasion did not serve as a lessons-learned approach for Georgia.
Another worthy example is Italy, which has been the liaison with the BRI since 2019. The agreement with both states was signed without any democratic debate due to the success of Chinese people-to-people diplomacy. All of this has not benefited Italy, but it undermined it’s standing as a trusted partner in G7, the EU, and NATO. Therefore, it is no surprise that due to these disadvantages, Italy is planning to leave the BRI. Even though there exists a will to leave, the signed document does not provide any clearance regarding how to do it. What is evident by now is that Italy will have to pay the price for exiting the BRI.
Is the Georgian government unaware of those risks? Or do they have their own motives despite the risks?
Weak institutionalized electoral democracies have to deliver public goods to their people. The PRC arrives with loans to subsidize infrastructure, bringing their state-owned enterprises, building ports, highways, bridges, and developing mines without any immediate costs to the nation. Governments look at Chinese investments positively as they do not have to pay the debt because it is transferred to their successor authorities. The government can win votes in elections with this strategy. Secondly, PRC investments provide tremendous opportunities for kickbacks and local corruption, resulting in elite capture. It can be very attractive for local officials who crave to enrich themselves and prioritize their personal interests over the state’s interests.
The European country of Georgia has announced an upgrade in bilateral ties with China, to what both are calling a “strategic partnership.” It is part of a foreign policy shift, that has seen Tbilisi friendlier to authoritarian states, including Russia.
In the deal with China, Georgia commits to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Beijing promises Tbilisi preferential lending from Chinese banks, for possible projects including a new international airport, a deep sea port, and several hydroelectric power stations.
The report represents the update of Civic IDEA’s last year’s take on “PRC’s two-fold game in the Russian-Ukrainian war” (See:https://civicidea.ge/en/prcs-twofold-game-in-the-russian-ukrainian-war/new/), which overviewed the set of tactical and strategic narratives from Beijing related to the first four months of the Russia-Ukraine war. It explores the dynamics of the relationship between Beijing and Moscow in various domains, including politics, international platforms, economics, military cooperation, and disinformation campaigns. Despite occasional gestures towards peace, China’s actions and statements indicate a difficult fixture in which it balances its relationships with both Russia and the West. Hence, our research aims to raise questions about China’s true intentions and complex game in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
For more information, please see the full report below ?
Civic IDEA has provided the analysis of the Georgia – China Strategic Partnership document signed between the two states on July 31, 2023.
Following the Georgian PM Gharibashvili’s visit to the PRC and meeting with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping and PM Li Qiang, Sino-Georgian relations have been upgraded to a strategic partnership prioritizing the deepening of bilateral relations in foreign affairs.
The document, released on July 31, consists of four dimensions: Political, Economic, People to people and cultural cooperation, and International. The document, released by the government of Georgia, contains several alarming narratives that tremendously influence not only the political but economic and soft power nature of the already established ties, making Georgia even more dependent on the PRC, strategically attached and shifting the country’s foreign policy direction from the West to the East. It is significant that all this is happening to cause a sharp delay with regards to Georgia’s integration to trans-atlantic alliances by making urgent and necessary decisions and the daily growth of anti-Western rhetoric.
Civic IDEA responds to the arrest of our friend and colleague, Mr. Gubad Ibadoghlu, which took place on July 23 in Baku, Azerbaijan. He is allegedly being held in the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (MDCOC) in Baku, a department infamous for its record of mistreatment and torture of political prisoners.
Unfortunately, Mr. Ibadoghlu is not the first prisoner in Baku whose arrest and charges raise serious questions. The circumstances of his treatment, as reported by various credible sources, are even more worrisome, as Mr.Ibadoghlu already has a disturbing health condition, and depriving medical care will worsen it even more. It is in complete violation of basic human rights standards.
We strongly condemn the arbitrary arrest of Mr. Ibadoghlu based on groundless accusations and call on the Azerbaijani authorities to show compassion and provide him with instant medical treatment as needed. We also join the calls of international human rights organizations and activists in demanding his immediate release and respect for the rights and freedoms of the civil society members in the country.
Within the framework of the project “Georgia as a Multi-ethnic and Multi-faceted Country”, we present the second consecutive monitoring report on the Georgian languageand literature textbooks. When examining Georgian language and literature textbooks, our main task was to evaluate:
To what extent and how frequently are representatives of national or religious minorities living/active in Georgia found in literature textbooks;
To what extent do the creators of school textbooks realize that for a diverse Georgia, a Georgian does not exclusively refer to “Georgian Orthodox man” and the Georgian literature encompasses all those authors and figures who have contributed to making literature texts in our country;
To what extent the idea is implemented that the literary heritage of Georgia means everything created by writers living in Georgia, regardless of the language of the original text – considered and accommodated.
The main aim of the project is to promote the formation of the population of Georgia (regardless of people’s ethnic and religious backgrounds) into a unified civic nation. We believe this task is difficult to accomplish without integrating relevant views and philosophies into school education. Therefore, our project also serves to fundamentally analyze problems and find ways to eliminate them. To this end, we consider a thorough audit of school textbooks at the initial stage to be the most important task in order to find out to what extent school education helps people of different ethnicities and nations living in Georgia to feel a part of history, development, and statehood of Georgia.
On June 15, three organizations – Civic IDEA’s, Democracy Research Institute’s (DRI) and Democracy Index- Georgia’s jointly organized the conference – New Security Architecture in Europe and its impact on Georgia – one year since European Perspective.
The main aim of the conference has been supporting the dialogue and emboldening discussion over the upcoming 2 cornerstone events:
assessment from the European Union for Georgia in the fall to be followed by Council’s decision on the Candidate Status and
the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius and expectations for Georgia.
The Conference was attended by various distinguished individuals, including the representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Georgia, heads of international organizations, representatives of political parties, as well as civil society representatives and members of academia.
The opening speech at the conference was delivered by Ms. Tinatin Khidasheli, the chairperson of Civic IDEA, which was followed by the keynote speech of Mr. Pawel Herczynski – Ambassador of the EU to Georgia.
As part of the conference, two panel discussions took place, providing a framework for in-depth discussions on important topics:
The Challenges of Georgia’s European Integration – Are the implemented reforms sufficient?
The panelists:
Marcos Granados Gomez – Charge’ d’Affaires at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Spain to Georgia, Presidency of Spain – 1 July – 31 December 2023;
David Usupashvili – Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia (2012-2016);
Tamar Khulordava – Chair of the EU Integration Committee of the Parliament of Georgia (2016-2019);
Sergi Kapanadze – former Deputy Chairperson of the Parliament of Georgia (2016-2020);
Vano Chkhikvadze – EU Integration Program Manager at the Open Society Georgia Foundation.
Moderator – Tamar Khidasheli Director, Democracy Research Institute (DRI)
Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic Aspirations and what to expect from the upcoming NATO Summit in Vilnius?
The panelists:
Andrius Kalindra – Ambassador of Lithuania to Georgia;
Riina Kaljurand – Ambassador of Estonia to Georgia;
Teona Akubardia – Deputy Chair of the Security Committee of the Parliament of Georgia;
Levan Dolidze – Ambassador of Georgia to NATO (2013-2014).
Moderator – Ekaterine Tsimakuridze, Democracy Index – Georgia.
