CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VIII (1) ContemporaryEurasia81 | Page 74

IMPERATIVES OF GEORGIAN DIPLOMACY AND COOPERATION OF TBILISI AND…
have vital importance) and increase the level of its security at the same
time. 36
Georgian Prime Minister, I. Garibashvili, met the head of the NPC
Standing Committee, Cheng Changchi, in June 2015. Such a high-level visit
of a representative of China to Georgia has not occurred over the last decade.
Both sides re-emphasized the importance of the «New Silk Road» strategic
project. The representatives of the PRC expressed their willingness to
actively participate in the «Forum of the Silk Road», which was held in
Tbilisi in October 2015 37 and November 2017. 38 Thus, Georgia can play the
role of an economic hub in the SREB project as it already has free trade
agreements in place with both the EU as well as China. The level of Chinese
investment in the Georgian economy is growing practically day by day, and
this trend, as economists predict, will have an irreversible character in terms
of the implementation of the SREB project. 39
The government of Georgia wants to promote Chinese engagement for
both economic and strategic reasons. Not only can trade and investment
links with China help spur economic growth, they also have the potential to
ease pressure applied by Russia. Еxperts believe that “Chinese investment in
Georgia does provide certain unanticipated security benefits”. 40
Thus, it is already impossible to ignore the fact that the Georgian
establishment has been fully aware that the focus on the unique projects of
NATO and the EU has serious conflicts of interest with its new trend in the
development of multilateral cooperation with China. The country of the
Golden Fleece is clearly looking to be the main partner of China in the South
Caucasus. The active participation of the Georgian side in the
implementation of China's geo-economic models promises to make the issue
of Georgia’s accession to NATO and the EU not as relevant as it is today.
36
Vakhtang Charaia, Vladimer Papava, Fanmei Wang, “China-Georgia Economic Relations
in the Context of the Belt and Road Initiative”, Bulletin of the Georgian National Academy of
Sciences, Vol. 12, Iss. 1 (2018): 157.
37
“Pervij forum Šjelkovogo puti startoval v Tbilisi”, (in Russian), [“The Silk Road First
Forum has started in Tbilisi”],
News Georgia, October 15, 2015,
https://www.newsgeorgia.ge/pervyj-forum-shelkovogo-puti-startoval-v-tbilisi/
(accessed
April 7, 2019).
38
“Šjelkovyj put’ po-gruzinski – itogi meždunarodnogo foruma v Tbilisi”, (in Russian),
["Silk Road" in Georgian - the results of the international forum in Tbilisi”], Spitnik Georgia,
Desember 1, 2017, https://sputnik-georgia.ru/reviews/20171201/238377112/ (accessed April
7, 2019).
39
Vakhtang Charaia and Vladimer Papava, “Belt and Road Initiative: Implications for
Georgia and China-Georgia Economic Relations”, China International Studies. Vol.
November/December (2017): 139, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321193299
(accessed May 22, 2019).
40
Joseph Larsen, “Georgia-China relations: The geopolitics of the Belt and Road” (Georgian
Institute of Politics, Georgia, Tbilisi, 2017): 20.
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