GEORGIA’S FOREIGN-POLITICAL VECTORS AND THE POLITICAL EFFECT OF ECONOMIC RAPPROCHEMENT WITH CHINA

Abstract

One of the important prerequisites for the existence of any sovereign state is the development and implementation of the relevant foreign policy direction. For Georgia, as a small and also a country with a burdensome geopolitical location, it is vital to define effective and targeted foreign policy vectors. The country, which is facing domestic as well as regional challenges, has a indispensable need to administer a well organized foreign policy. It has become a constitutional obligation of Georgia, by the constitutional bodies, to take all measures to ensure full integration of the country into the European Union and the Euro-Atlantic Treaty Organization. At the same time, Georgia-China relations have significantly changed and are characterized by a trend of close economic rapprochement, which was crowned by the signing of a bilateral strategic partnership agreement last year. On the one hand, the drive towards Euro-Atlantic structures and on the other hand, the strategic partnership with China, one of the main actors of global priorities and threats, named in the US national security strategy, create a multifaceted picture of the foreign-political vectors of the Georgian state.