Monday, June 22 2020 13:32

ArmInfo. Starting from 2014-15 China implements quite an active humanitarian and cultural policy in Armenia. A similar opinion was expressed by ArmInfo, President of the Institute for Energy Security, Doctor of Political Sciences Vahe  Davtyan.

"Within its framework, centers for studying the Chinese language, the  Confucius Institute were opened in Armenia, a Chinese school was  recently opened. All of this should be viewed in the context of the  Chinese" soft power ". We also understand that a full-fledged  North-South highway project is possible only with the direct  participation of China, and provided that the highway connecting Iran  and Georgia via Armenia is involved in the Chinese initiative "One  belt, one way," he stressed.

Davtyan evaluates North-South as a project of geostrategic importance  for Armenia. And based on the statements of the embassy, the Chinese  Foreign Ministry, the expert emphasized Beijing's interest in  participating in this project. According to him, the participation of  China in the implementation of this project may become one of the  basic vectors of economic cooperation between the two countries. In  this light, according to the expert, this direction needs an  additional impulse.

Davtyan is considering China's construction of the largest foreign  embassy in Armenia in light of the importance of the South Caucasus  to China. And also as an indicator of the key importance attached to  the region in the implementation of the Chinese foreign strategy by  its authors. In his opinion, the South Caucasus today is for China  one of the key elements in the implementation of the Chinese  geostrategy for access through the Black Sea and Turkish straits to  the Mediterranean Sea. The latter is a strategic logistics direction  for Chinese trade.

"The proportion of China in the transport and logistics market of our  region continues to grow. China is actively involved in the  implementation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project. It is  actively creating a joint free trade zone in Georgia. The coronavirus  pandemic, of course, made its negative adjustments to these processes  However, in my opinion, after overcoming the crisis, China will  continue to implement its policy in the new capacity of an active  regional player, "Davtyan predicts.

The expert highlighted the recent accession of Armenia to the  International Alliance for Religious Freedom as a problem that could  negatively affect the development of the Armenian-Chinese relations.  According to him, initiated by the United States, the International  Religious Freedom Alliance stands out for its anti- Chinese stance.  He also noted that the cooperation of Armenia with the alliance  involves the use of the Armenian media for anti-Chinese propaganda.  The latter will negatively affect the Armenian-Chinese relations.