ArmInfo.Armenian-Chinese relations are going through hard times. International expert Suren Sargsyan spoke about the reasons why China has not appointed its ambassador to Armenia for 7 months.
The political scientist called the fact that the Chinese side has not appointed a diplomat to Armenia for more than six months an unprecedented event in the history of Armenian-Chinese relations.
At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that, of course, this is a very clear message, and not some kind of accident, and Beijing has hundreds of professionals in its diplomatic arsenal who can be sent to Yerevan today.
Then Sargsyan presented his vision of the reasons for the ongoing crisis in Armenian-Chinese relations.
"Firstly, Armenia, despite assurances given at the highest level, shows absolutely no interest in the mega- project "One Belt, One Road" and does nothing to become part of it. From this point of view, the Chinese approach is extremely clear: there are states that are friendly to the project, and there are those that are against it," the expert noted.
Secondly, according to him, Armenia remains a member of the virtually non-existent anti-Chinese Religious Freedom Alliance (not to be confused with the Religious Freedom Summit), despite the fact that its founder, former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, himself represented its anti-Chinese essence. Sargsyan noted that the alliance has not actually been active for more than 4 years, but Armenia formally continues to be a part of it.
"It is also important to remember that Armenia is a country that hosted Taiwan's Minister of Economy, under conditions when it pledged to refrain from any direct contacts with Taiwanese officials.
The Taiwan issue is the most sensitive topic for China, and here it does not tolerate any opinion other than the one-China principle.
After all this, such an approach by our Chinese colleagues is quite logical and justified. You can't treat superpowers like this," Sargsyan is sure.