Friday, May 17 2019 18:20

ArmInfo. The Armenian authorities face  the challenge of moving political relations with China into the  mainstream of economic investment. This was announced at a press  conference by political analyst Suren Sargsyan.

In the context of the  visit of the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan to China, the  political scientist called the People's Republic of China one of the  advanced countries of the world, calling the role and influence of  the People's Republic of China unprecedented, and therefore believes  that Armenia faces a significant task in establishing and expanding  economic relations there are political relationships.

"China is known for its global economic projects and Armenia should  fit into the logic of these projects, that is, try to integrate into  those or other projects that this country implements," the expert  believes, at the same time calling this task extremely difficult, in  the light of its territorial location and absence diplomatic  relations with unfriendly neighboring countries.

Sargsyan recalled that all three presidents of Armenia on official  visits visited the People's Republic of China, noting that there are  no disagreements and contradictions on the agenda of the  Armenian-Chinese relations.  According to a political analyst, China  has a fairly balanced position on the Karabakh settlement, in this  sense, the Armenian-Chinese relations are at a high level, he said.

Speaking of the Chinese initiative <One belt - one road>, Sargsyan  believes that this project will have a serious impact on the EAEU  market, saying that the US has some concern in this regard, given  that China is ahead of the US in a number of economic indicators.

At the same time, he noted that, despite the trade war between China  and the United States, these countries are so interconnected and  intertwined with each other that the economies of these countries  will not be able to either develop separately or survive the economic  collapse.

To recall, in early May, US President Donald Trump said that from May  10, US taxes on Chinese products worth $ 200 billion will be raised  from 10% to 25%. In response, from June 1, 2019, China will introduce  retaliatory duties in respect of more than 5 thousand commodity items  from the United States totaling $ 60 billion.

Returning to the Armenian-Chinese relations, the political scientist  assured that the local market can "breathe" thanks to Chinese  investments, in particular thanks to Armenia's participation in  global investment programs initiated by China.

<Turkey and Azerbaijan are trying to actively integrate into <One  Belt - One Road>. If our neighbors are involved in these projects,  they will do everything possible so that Armenia remains behind their  side, "the expert expressed his fears, urging the authorities of the  country to be consistent and active in relations with China,  recalling that by efforts of the Azerbaijani and Turkish lobbies was  excluded from all sorts of regional economic projects, and the only  alternative for official Yerevan was only the EAEU.  "If Armenia does  not pursue an active economic policy with China, Yerevan is doomed to  withdraw from all projects. From the economic point of view, this  loss will set us back and there will be no opportunity for its  return, "the expert warned, calling the interaction with China one of  the foremost directions of Armenia in the external vector,  considering that the future is with China.  When asked why Pashinyan  refused to participate at a high level in the international  conference "One Belt - One Way", the expert focused on a bilateral  meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.  "If Armenia has a need  for serious discussions, then meeting with the President of China is  the best reason for this," he said.