Strategic partnership format: Beijing aims for cooperation with Baku On the sidelines of SCO

The summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) took place in Samarkand. Türkiye and China were among the main centers of power there most clearly. In this sense Azerbaijan seems to be doing well: fraternal Türkiye is Azerbaijan's main ally, and the meeting of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping at the summit opens an unequivocal new chapter in the relations between Baku and Beijing.

The factor of the rapprochement of interests between Baku and Beijing is caused not only by the changes in the global geopolitical situation in Eurasia but also by the increasing role of both countries in the world processes. It is clear that China is undoubtedly a larger global actor in terms of population, GDP, and global relations. At the same time, the processes of active expansion of the influence in Eurasia are developing in a quite synchronous way. While China's path is marked by more long-standing and stable dynamics, Azerbaijan got such an impetus a few years ago, after winning the 44-day war. The surrender of Armenia gave Azerbaijan the opportunity to expand the prospects of economic and political ties, primarily by building new transit bridges in the region. Consequently, the geography of Azerbaijan's influence is expanding, in particular in Central Asia, where our country's ability to ensure the transit of goods from the Far East and from South-East Asia to Europe through the future Zangazur and existing transport corridors is welcomed by Central Asian countries and China.

Beijing, meanwhile, has only recently begun the full implementation of the Middle Corridor route through Central Asian countries, the Caspian Sea, and then via Azerbaijan and Türkiye to Europe. And now, in view of the abandonment of all the more northern routes via sanctioned Russia, this route to Europe is almost the best route for China.

In a sense, both countries have a similar political-geographical situation: they have their own enclaves and territories claimed by other states and external powers, and there is an invisible threat of external interference in the region.

Our countries are developing cooperation on this issue. Thus, PRC President Xi Jinping said that his country supports Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and sovereignty, and highly values Baku's support for China's territorial integrity and sovereignty. Ilham Aliyev, in turn, expressed his gratitude to Xi Jinping for this understanding.

The enhancement of this format of relations can be seen quite clearly today. For example, at a recent special UN Security Council meeting, initiated by France in connection with the escalation on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border, China was one of those who supported Azerbaijan's position much to the surprise of the Armenian side and its lobbyists.

"We hope that the parties will observe a ceasefire to stabilise the situation," said Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the UN, as he discussed the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. And he made it clear that the cause of the problem is Armenia's torpedoing of the work of the border delimitation and demarcation commission. Jun expressed hope that the working group on the delimitation of the border between the two countries would record progress in its work.

At the same time, the meeting between the leaders of China and Azerbaijan in Samarkand clearly showed that the cooperation format is moving to a new level.

"We appreciate that you attach importance to the development of ties between Azerbaijan and China. We support the comprehensive development of our ties at the strategic level," Xi Jinping said during his dialogue with Ilham Aliyev.

Thanking the chairman of China for his congratulations on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the establishment of the Yeni Azerbaijan Party (New Azerbaijan), President Ilham Aliyev noted the good relations between the ruling parties of the two countries.

The Azerbaijani President said he highly appreciated his visit to the People's Republic of China in 2019 to participate in the "One Belt, One Road" forum. The head of state noted that there are also great prospects for cooperation and partnership within the "Middle Corridor", and "One Belt, One Way" projects. Ilham Aliyev noted that Azerbaijan played an important role in the transport process between China and Europe and that the transport-logistic capacities of our country are of great importance in international cargo transportation and Baku fully supports the transportation of cargo from China to Europe and back via railway and other types of transport.

It is worth recalling that at present this transit is underway via the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars route from Istanbul to Beijing via Baku seaport by goods trains, and the future Zangazur corridor may become a good alternative to this route as well. So cooperation with Baku is in any case promising for Beijing.

Azerbaijan is also a valuable political partner, acting as the leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, which has been already joined by 120 countries. Initiatives taken by our country, in particular, the special session of the UN against COVID-19 convened with the support of the Non-Aligned Movement, demonstrate the significant potential of such cooperation. In this context, the head of state noted that Azerbaijan has always adhered to the supremacy of norms and principles of international law and that our country, as the Chair of the Non-Aligned Movement since 2019, continues its activities in this direction. President Aliyev stressed that territorial integrity is a fundamental principle of international law, which must be respected by all.

China's "One Belt, One Road" project and now the concept of restoring a stable life in Karabakh and other liberated Azerbaijani regions are extremely significant. Chinese companies are already actively involved in the implementation of various projects in Karabakh. Ilham Aliyev welcomed these initiatives by Chinese businessmen in his speech.

The role played by both Azerbaijan and China in combating the COVID-19 pandemic is also quite significant. While China has launched a multifaceted study of the nature of the virus and created its own vaccines against coronavirus, Baku initiated a special UN session on pandemic control. Azerbaijan also expressed its confidence in the vaccines developed in China. Therefore, President Aliyev said that he highly appreciated the support provided by China to Azerbaijan in combating COVID-19 and that our country was one of the first to start the process of vaccination thanks to the vaccines received from China. Ilham Aliyev described it as an example of solidarity.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan pointed to the strengthening ties between the cities of the two countries, expansion of student exchange, as well as cooperation in the field of tourism as part of cooperation with China in the humanitarian sphere. The President of Azerbaijan expressed confidence that after the final end of the pandemic exchange of tourists between the two countries will be restored to the level that existed before the spread of COVID-19. And these are just a few of the topics that were raised during the meeting between Ilham Aliyev and Xi Jinping.

It is also worth noting in this regard that the Azerbaijan-Türkiye tandem managed to successfully lead in terms of negotiations at the SCO summit in Samarkand against the backdrop of Yerevan's apparent political failure. As is known, Prime Minister Pashinyan refused to attend the summit, arguing that the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border had become more complicated. It is certainly true: Pashinyan's trip to the summit now, when the Armenian revanchists are bemoaning the lost heights and demanding a response from the authorities, could turn into a serious scolding and throwing rotten tomatoes at him. The Azerbaijani president, on the other hand, who successfully meets all the challenges of the enemy, could afford such a trip without any fear. Thus, Yerevan was expelled from the SCO negotiating format through its own fault, because of the aggressive and radical policy against Azerbaijan, and is now "getting what it fought for". If Armenia had any plans of its own to develop Armenian-Chinese cooperation, they proved unsuccessful - Azerbaijan took the initiative and is now building a strategic partnership with Beijing.