Over the last few decades China has solidified its role as a powerful force in global politics. It operates the world’s second largest economy and commands a modern, world-class military. President Xi Jinping employs a multipronged approach toward global governance by supporting international goals that are in line with China’s interests and undermining those that diverge from the ideal communist model. He continues to support Putin’s war effort while also advancing Beijing’s agenda throughout Europe despite increasing domestic economic issues at home. Recently, the Chinese state won a tender in Russia’s back yard to construct a deep-sea port which could alter the power structure throughout the Black Sea region.
The Georgian Dream government announced that a Chinese-led consortium working with a Singaporean company will construct and manage the strategic Anaklia deep-water port. This latest Chinese geopolitical project, according to Giorgi Menabde of the Jamestown Foundation, “could drastically change the geoeconomic and geopolitical situation in the region, providing China more economic power and influence, and turning Tbilisi closer to Moscow through Beijing’s alliance with the Kremlin.” Western influence in Georgia, which had been growing stronger since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, is starting to wane. Beijing is filling the gap once held by the West politically and economically. It is emerging as Georgia’s primary strategic partner while also strengthening its position in the South Caucasus. The strategic implications are enormous as China is outpacing Russia influence in the region.
China and Georgia declared a “strategic partnership” last year that led to the May 29 announcement of the new port agreement. The consortium includes two major Chinese companies and two Chinese subcontractors. The “Anaklia Deep Sea Port” company, a Georgian-owned state company, retains a 51-percent share with the consortium holding a 49-percent share. “The deep-sea port will reportedly be constructed based on Chinese cargo needs and looks to become a critical node in Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative,” according to Menabde.
The Chinese company involved in the deal was blacklisted by the US Government in August 2020 for building artificial islands in the South China Sea for military use, according to the US Department of Commerce. In response to criticism over the move, the government in Tbilisi issued a statement saying that “blacklisted” doesn’t mean Washington sanctioned the firm. According to political analysts in Washington, this is a clear indication that Georgia is turning away from the West when it comes to what companies are acceptable as partners. Menabde says it is also a signal of an “increase of influence [by China] on Tbilisi’s decision-making.”
Former President of the Georgian National Bank Roman Gotsiridze stated in his May 31 interview with this author that “the Anaklia deep-sea port project is not only an economic project. It directly concerns issues of Georgia’s strategic security.” Menabde adds he argued, “China’s dominance at the Port of Anaklia will have economic and political consequences for the security of the entire Black Sea region and in the context of a real alliance between China and Russia on the issue of Russian aggression against Ukraine.” At the same time as China is developing a significant port facility in the country, Russia is also building a naval base a few miles away at the Port of Ochamchire in the occupied Abkhazia region of Georgia. Some analysts suggest this is to hide the Russian navy’s warships that “escaped” from Crimea and that it will benefit Russia.
A Georgian historian and political scientist Paata Chekurishvili, an advocate of the Georgian-Chinese partnership, told the Jamestown Foundation that “The case concerns the moving of the ‘Middle Corridor’ to the south toward the so-called Zangezur transport and energy corridor, which can be launched under the same patronage of the United States and the European Union.” … This is only in the interests of Georgia’s northern neighbor—Russia.” This deal cements China’s geopolitical involvement in the region and adds another notch in China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Daria Novak served in the U.S. State Dept.
Photo: Naval vessels attached to a destroyer flotilla under the PLA Eastern Theater Command sail towards the designated waters during a training exercise on May 14,2024. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Wan Haichao)