China-Azerbaijan: New Era of Strategic Partnership

As a strategically important region, the South Caucasus has traditionally been a place where the interests of various global and regional powers collide. For a long time, the main external players in the region have been Russia, the US, the EU, Turkey, and Iran. But recently, China's interest in the South Caucasus has become increasingly obvious. Compared to other major actors involved in Caucasian geopolitics, China has historically been in contact with the South Caucasus mainly due to the ancient Great Silk Road. In other words, these ties were purely commercial, economic, and cultural. At the moment, Beijing is once again one of the main trading partners of the region's countries. Thus, precisely these repeatedly transformed trade and cultural ties with the Caucasus are already creating a solid geopolitical foothold for China.
At the present stage, political and economic relations between Baku and Beijing have been steadily developing, which has naturally led to a strategic partnership. On April 23, within the framework of the state visit of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to the People's Republic of China, the "Joint Statement between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the People's Republic of China on the establishment of comprehensive strategic Partnership relations" was signed in Beijing. Of course, this visit and the documents are opening a new page in relations between Azerbaijan and China, confirming that both countries consider each other as reliable and mutually beneficial strategic partners. In a relatively short period, the level of relations has risen from the strategic partnership signed in July 2024 in Astana to a comprehensive strategic one. This is especially valuable and important now in the light of the difficult international and regional situation.
Diplomatic relations between Beijing and Baku were established in April 1992 and have only been strengthening since then. They began to gain special momentum after Heydar Aliyev came to power. An important milestone for strengthening cooperation and friendship was his visit to China in 1994, where he met with Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Prime Minister Li Peng and signed 8 important agreements. In April 1996, Deputy Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China Jiang Zemin visited Azerbaijan. Two years later, in 1998, Heydar Aliyev took the initiative to restore the Great Silk Road, which, as we now clearly understand, was a far-sighted and strategically correct decision. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev also pays special attention to the development of relations with China. Since 2003, he has made several official visits to this country, during which the "Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the People's Republic of China on joint assistance to the creation of the Silk Road Economic Belt" was signed, and further directions for the development of relations between the two countries were identified. Thus, if the scale of Chinese-Azerbaijani economic relations remained rather modest in the 1990s, then after the visit of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to China in 2005, they received a new impetus. In 2007, the volume of trade between China and Azerbaijan reached $289 million, accounting for 2.5% of Azerbaijan's total foreign trade. The next stage of Sino-Azerbaijani relations began in 2015, again after the state visit of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to China. Starting in 2016, the volume of trade between the two countries began to grow again, reaching almost $1.3 billion in 2017, turning China into one of Azerbaijan's major trading partners. The trade turnover between China and Azerbaijan in 2024 increased by 20.7 percent compared to the previous year and amounted to $3.744 billion. This made China Azerbaijan's 4th largest trading partner, accounting for 7.9 percent of the country's foreign trade turnover, and the leader in imports (17.69 percent). Economic relations are growing and strengthening thanks to the work of the Intergovernmental Economic Commission established in 2009, projects implemented jointly with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and Azerbaijan's participation in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Azerbaijan was one of the first countries to openly support and join the initiative, which unites more than 150 countries. Azerbaijan is an important transit point on the way between Europe and Asia. "One Belt, One Road" has many points of contact with the national Azerbaijani strategies "Restoration of the Great Silk Road" and "Trans-Caspian International Transport Route". At the same time, Baku has done a lot of work to improve its logistics infrastructure. Today, the delivery time of goods from China to the Black Sea via Azerbaijan is only 10 to 12 days. The Baku International Commercial Sea Port and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway are important transport hubs in this regard. Transport routes through Azerbaijan are becoming one of the safest, shortest, and most attractive among the existing alternatives. As the President of Azerbaijan noted in an interview with the Chinese CGTN (China Global Television Network) TV channel, "One Belt, One Road" is not only a transit route, but, above all, opportunities.
«We want to build businesses along the route, because our geographical location is advantageous. We are situated along the East-West and North-South transportation corridors. With respect to connectivity, we have already built all infrastructure: railroads, seaports, highways, eight international airports. We have one of the biggest air cargo companies on global scale. Our target is to build businesses along the route. Of course, we count on Chinese companies, » said Ilham Aliyev.
For China itself, which has been consistently increasing its presence in the region since the South Caucasian states gained independence, the benefits of cooperation with Azerbaijan are, of course, primarily economic. First of all, China is diversifying its logistics, which is one of its priority tasks.
The following routes are increasingly attracting investment and becoming truly operational: firstly, China-Central Asia-Caspian Sea-South Caucasus-Europe, known as the Middle Corridor; secondly, the China-Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan-Georgia route, then via the Black Sea to Europe; and thirdly, the China-Kazakhstan-via the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan, then via the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. China has also shown interest in Azerbaijan's energy sector for a long time. China has also long been interested in Azerbaijan's energy sector. This includes investments in the development of oil and gas resources, drilling of exploratory and production oil and gas wells, construction of gas pipelines, as well as in areas such as oil and gas processing.
According to the Joint Statement, China and Azerbaijan firmly support each other in choosing their development paths, and provide each other with resolute support in protecting the fundamental interests, sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of both countries. The Azerbaijani side recognizes that there is only one China in the world, Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory, the Government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legitimate government representing the whole of China, firmly opposes any form of "Taiwan independence" and supports the Chinese government in implementing the reunification of the country. China firmly supports the peace agenda proposed by the Azerbaijani side and considers confrontation-oriented geopolitical games to be counterproductive. It is worth noting that China has always supported the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and respected Azerbaijan's international legal position on the Karabakh conflict. It should be recalled that Azerbaijan is a dialogue partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The parties are making efforts to protect the UN-centric world order and the international order based on international law and the basic norms of international relations.
It is worth noting the decision to establish a Working Group on Investment Cooperation, which should strengthen cooperation in the trade and economic sphere, in the field of investment, green energy and the digital economy. It is planned to expand mutual access to the markets for environmentally friendly and high-quality agricultural products. It was also stated that they were ready to begin negotiations on a free trade agreement. In the industrial sphere, we are talking about digital transformation, deepening and expanding cooperation on a commercial basis in such areas as petrochemicals, metallurgy, textile industry, pharmaceuticals, mechanical engineering equipment, the oil and gas industry, the food industry, the automotive industry, the production of building materials, etc. It is worth highlighting the willingness to develop cooperation in renewable energy sources and waste management. Another important point is cooperation in the transport sector (development of transport infrastructure, increasing the efficiency of logistics and transportation, regional interconnectedness). The parties highly appreciated the signing of the Agreement on International Multimodal Transport. China and Azerbaijan are willing to cooperate with each other and other countries along the route to make customs clearance more convenient and cargo transportation more efficient.
During the visit to China, a Memorandum of Understanding on Strengthening Investment Cooperation in the Digital Economy was also signed, which envisages the development of new business formats and models, joint promotion of the digital economy, support for technological innovations and the creation of a favorable ecosystem for digital investments in both countries. Including in the field of green energy. " We have a really unique opportunity to work on a bilateral track with respect to renewables because it is in line with our strategy and your agenda," the President of Azerbaijan noted in an interview with Chinese television.
The Joint Statement also emphasizes that terrorism, separatism and extremism pose a serious threat to national security and regional stability, and therefore preventing these threats requires cooperation and coordinated actions. As well as drug crime, transnational organized crime, and cyber threat.
Joint research activities, commercialization of achievements, mutual student exchanges through various channels, development of Confucius Institutes in Azerbaijan, establishment of partnerships between educational institutions will be encouraged in the sphere of humanitarian cooperation. The possibility of opening a China-Azerbaijan University in Azerbaijan is being considered. Another promising area of cooperation is tourism - serious steps are being taken, including visa-free entry and an increase in the number of flights. The example of the South Caucasus clearly shows China's desire to use the so-called "soft power". Educational and cultural projects implemented by China complement its geopolitical aspirations and economic interests.
Thus, Beijing views the South Caucasus countries from the point of view of transit opportunities, as a new market for Chinese goods and seeks to have access to sources of raw materials, primarily to Caspian hydrocarbons. This strategy is successful, but for economic and transport-logistics ties to remain effective and develop, there must be stability in the region. And this requirement clearly brings China's presence in the Caucasus into the geopolitical level. That is, China's relations with the South Caucasus countries are of great importance not only from an economic and political point of view, but also from the point of view of regional security and stability. Beijing is an attractive partner for the South Caucasus countries also because there are no negative aspects between it and the region and no conditions are put forward.
In the long term, such tactics should strengthen the political positions of China, and at the same time, the geopolitical positions of Azerbaijan and Georgia will inevitably be strengthened, because the entry of such a powerful actor as China into the region, where the interests of the USA, EU, Iran, and Russia traditionally intersect, has a positive effect. Naturally, given the de facto trade war between Beijing and Washington, observers are expressing concerns about whether Baku and Tbilisi will have to make a strategic choice, but here it can be added that the USA is currently interested in the region "tangentially". The White House is dealing with problems in other parts of the world, including China itself, and it is unlikely that Azerbaijan or Georgia will be forced to make a tough choice between maintaining friendly relations with the USA and mutually beneficial relations with China in the near future. The same situation is with Central Asia, where, as Russia weakens, China's influence is becoming more noticeable. But here too, it is obvious that Moscow, choosing "the lesser of two evils" in this situation, is clearly not against China's strengthening. Another matter is what it can oppose to this. In this context, the economic and political rivalry between China and India, which has also recently sought to strengthen its economic and political presence in the Caucasus, but is doing so mainly through Armenia, looks much more interesting. At the same time, it is obvious that China sees Azerbaijan as the leading state in the South Caucasus.
There is a huge untapped potential between Azerbaijan and China. This includes further development of transport routes and related infrastructure, development of the renewable energy sector, development of transport and production in various fields, cultural and educational exchange, support for each other at international venues, including in such a powerful organization as the SCO. Beijing, as always, is playing a "long game", but it is definitely interested in a peaceful, stable and prosperous South Caucasus. China offers direct and honest dialogue and interaction, and Baku responds in kind. Therefore, China and Azerbaijan view each other as priority and reliable partners, independently determining the policy of bilateral relations, without regard to external factors.
Irina Khalturina

SR-CENTER.INFO