Research

Civic IDEA is pleased to share another China Watch report, “Unveiling China’s Corporate Power Play: Guizhou Provincial Highway Engineering Group Co and CNTIC in Georgia and Abroad,” overviewing the misconduct related to the two Chinese state-owned companies operating under the joint venture within the frames of Rikoti Bypass Project. We provide insights into the activities of these companies in Georgia, along with reports concerning the China National Technical Import and Export Corporation (CNTIC), which have garnered significant international media attention and are readily accessible through open sources.

See the full report below 👇

We are pleased to share with you our latest research “Workers’ Rights Watch” prepared with the support of NED and Caps Unlock. It delves into the details of labour relations within eight companies affiliated with the People’s Republic of China. The analysis is based on the conclusions made by the Labor Inspection Service of Georgia in the reporting period of 2022, the media monitoring conducted by us and the violations revealed as a result of multiple interviews with the victims. The findings underscore the critical need for implementing robust measures that compel companies to adhere to labor-legal norms, so that the socio-economic or civil-political rights aren’t violated.

For further details, please find the complete report attached below. 👇

Civic IDEA’s partner experts, Danila Bekturganov and Abbos Bobokhonov, implemented research on “Chinese growing technological impact in Central Asia”, overviewing the main activities of Chinese technology companies in the two largest countries of the Central Asian region – Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The authors considered the opportunities available for Chinese technology companies to access the personal and biometric data of users – citizens of Central Asian countries. Moreover, they studied the prospects for cooperation between Chinese technology companies and the authorities of the Central Asian countries and provided conclusions and main recommendations on the areas of advocacy activities both on the regional and international levels. 

The material has been prepared with the support of a DTL (Doublethink Lab) grant – CITW fund.

See the full Report below ?

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.

Report ?

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 ?

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.

Report ?

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.

Report ?

Civic IDEA’s report “China’s “Wolf Warrior” Policy in the Media – the Case of Georgia”

Civic IDEA is happy to share with you a new report on the CCP’s influence activities in the Georgian media. The objective of the research is to analyze the degree of Chinese influence on the Georgian media, both traditional and so-called new media, in the context of the strategy of the Chinese Communist Party through both content and systemic analysis. The media report portrays how China is covered in the Georgian media and how the strategic mission of the Chinese Communist Party is fulfilled – with propaganda and tactical approaches on the “cultural front” to achieve the formation of public opinion in the form desired by the Chinese Communist Party and later, to use it for leverage over various stakeholders or establish control. At the same time, the systematic media analysis aimed to examine the share of the People’s Republic of China and its affiliated business actors in both media ownership and the advertising market.

The report was created in cooperation with the Journalism Resource Center.

For more information, you can download the report here ?

We are happy to share with you a discussion paper written by our chairwoman Tinatin Khidasheli about the expectations for the 2024 parliamentary elections. She argues that based on election data for the last 10 years, the “Georgian Dream” party (the ruling party in Georgia) as a single party has no chance of winning the proportional vote. This article contains facts and unmistakable data proving that, even by Georgian “normal” standards, winning an election and independently forming a government by the Georgian dream is impossible. She also provides some scenarios for the developments before the elections.

This is the first article in the series of discussion papers Civic IDEA will publish before the 2024 parliamentary vote.

For the full paper, please visit ?

During the past five years of intensive work revealing the PRC’s soft and hard power strategies jeopardizing Georgia’s national security, Civic IDEA has already published two reports covering China’s influence on Georgia’s academic, media and CSO sectors before, during, and after the emergence of the covid-19 pandemic. Today, we suggest another monitoring report from the Chinese cooperation and activities in Georgian Academia, though not related directly to the universities, but to the National Academy of Sciences of Georgia.

Through personal correspondence and public information available on their official website, Civic IDEA has discovered several memorandums and cooperation agreements the National Academy of Sciences has signed with both state and private Chinese entities, as well as numerous events and activities following the advanced relations with China. We came across several interesting connections that have already been established between local chapters of the Academy of Science, as well as individual scientists under the auspices of the Academy and Chinese universities, which gives us the idea that the increased research and academic cooperation will only boost and the partnership will gain even more attachment in the future.

See the full report ?