CHINA’S GROWING PRESENCE IN THE CAUCASUS AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD: NEW SILK ROAD
Makaleler > Tam Makale · 2018
Yazarlar: Argun BAŞKAN
Kavkazologiya, Uluslararası, 2018, ss 204-225
DOI: 10.31143/2542-212x-2018-4-204-225
Özet
One Belt, One Road" (OBOR; also referred as the Belt and Road Initiative -BRI; New Silk Road) of the People's Republic of China is an ambitious amalgamation of mega-projects spanning through not only Eurasia (from China to the European Union) but also parts of other continents.Caucasus is one of the transit areas.The article aims to examine the workings of the OBOR with a focus on the Caucasus (Russian Federation's North Caucasus and the South Caucasus).Even if it does not hold a decisive central position, the Caucasus is not a negligible area in Eurasian and wider world politics.Its location between Russia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East is now being more appreciated by China.It is clear, on the other side that China is getting more and more important for the Caucasus.The question is about the maximum level and scope of this influence.As to the North Caucasus the focus of Chinese involvement seems on touristic infrastructure so far.Pretty much everybody agrees that Chinese influence (both geopolitical and economic) is on the rise in the South Caucasus.China bears almost no ethnopolitical, religious, ideological and historical burden and debts in the Caucasus.This gives China an exceptional flexibility.All South Caucasus countries perceive Chinese investments positively regarding economic and regional stability.China also refrains from expressing strong opinions about local conflicts.So, assessing the Caucasus in wider Eurasian transformations like in the massive case of the OBOR, one may find that in some ways, the OBOR enforces and completes cooperative elements in the region (e.g.Turkish-Georgian-Azeri partnerships).In some other ways, it underlines the existing disagreements and exclusions (e.g.Abkhazia, Armenia).Given the fact that the Caucasus is only one of the many transit hubs in the OBOR, attitudes of regional actors seem to be relatively more critical for the level of the region's mostly positive or negative interaction with the OBOR.Generally speaking, the OBOR provides rather opportunities than problems in the case of the Caucasus to the extent it would make the Caucasus further approach the EU cooperation space which is along with China itself one of the two pillars of the OBOR.