Azerbaijan is laying the groundwork to strengthen its ambitions in the South Caucasus and is seeking help from China.
In just two months, Baku’s ties with Beijing have progressed rapidly as the oil-rich country has drawn closer politically and economically through a series of agreements that could increase China’s presence in the region and open the door to new Chinese investments in Azerbaijan.
A series of recent activities began on July 3rd when Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Astana and said they had advanced bilateral ties through a new strategic partnership that calls for closer economic, military and political cooperation.
A few weeks later, Baku applied to upgrade its status within the SCO from dialogue partner to observer, paving the way for potential full membership.
And then on August 20th, Azerbaijan announced that it had applied to join the BRICS grouping, which is led by China and Russia and also includes Brazil, India and South Africa as founding members.
The set of moves is part of China’s growing momentum in the region as an investor and trading partner since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which has seen governments and shipping companies look for alternatives due to sanctions against Russia that have left behind a vast rail network – previously the main route between China and of Europe for land trade – less sustainable.
For Azerbaijan, located at the crossroads of trade on the Caspian Lake, it has given new impetus to the so-called Middle Corridor, an alternative trade route that bypasses Russia and cuts through Central Asia and the South Caucasus to connect with the European Union (EU), and has sparked billions of dollars in new investment.
“The Middle Corridor is a key issue and Baku needs Beijing’s support,” Zaur Shiriyev, a non-resident scientist at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said. “The immediate concern is that the success of the Middle Corridor depends on a steady flow of goods from China to establish a strong China-Europe route in the long term.”
