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Handshake Of David And Goliath

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  • Handshake Of David And Goliath

    HANDSHAKE OF DAVID AND GOLIATH

    Mirror Spectator
    Editorial 4-4 April 2015

    By Edmond Y. Azadian

    If we discount as legend that the ancestors of our national hero,
    Vartan Mamigonian, hailed from the Mamgon family in China, relations
    between the two nations were at their best when Armenian traders
    moved their merchant ships and cargo from Europe to Asia during the
    16th and 17th centuries, before that trade route was taken over by
    the British East India Company.

    Armenian traders from Julfa operated between Venice and cities in the
    Far East, where they had set up colonies in Java, Surabaya, Jakarta,
    Madras, Calcutta, Singapore, Hong Kong and other cities. There was
    an active Armenian community in the northern Chinese city of Harbin
    well into the Communist era, when Maoist forces completed the takeover
    of China, driving the nationalist forces of Kuomintang led by Chang
    Kai-shek to Taiwan.

    The relative sizes of the two countries have led to many jokes and
    anecdotes. For example, the Chinese government, upon learning that
    anthropologist Margaret Mead had proposed that the United Nations
    adopt the Armenian language as its official international langue,
    sent a telegram to Armenia requesting 30 million Armenian-language
    teachers to instruct the language at Chinese schools.

    Moving from humor to more political narrative, did President Nixon and
    his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger imagine that China would become
    a dominant figure in world affairs and, at least economically, make
    the US beholden to Beijing when they decided to play their China card?

    At the time, the obsession in the Western capitals was to contain the
    Soviet Union at any cost. The China card was a tremendous asset which
    the Nixon-Kissinger team used successfully, driving a wedge between
    the two major Communist nations, leading eventually to the collapse
    of the Soviet Empire. But instead, they empowered China to become
    one of the major forces in the ensuing, multi-polar political scene.

    Unlike the Soviets, the Chinese have used autocratic social rule
    for economic discipline, raising the living standards of a 1.5
    billion-strong society. In a hybrid socialist society, billionaires
    are allowed to succeed while the state officially preaches equality
    for all. Once again, internationally, their foreign policy was
    never tainted by ideology; they never tried to export its communist
    ideology when buying oil from Sudan's Omar Bashir, accused by the
    West of perpetrating genocide, nor did they condition their economic
    penetration of Latin America. On the contrary, they waged a brief war
    against their ideological kin, Vietnam, after the unification of that
    war-torn country.

    Today China is among the world's movers and shakers. Its economic power
    is growing inexorably, parallel to its political and military muscle.

    International relations need to be mutually advantageous to the
    parties engaged in them; therefore what kind of give-and-take is
    involved in Armenian-Chinese relations? China has helped Armenia in
    developing its agriculture, but above all, it has supplied much-needed
    military hardware.

    President Serge Sargisian's first visit to Beijing was received at
    the highest level of protocol. His second visit in later March this
    year was equally high-powered.

    One may think that Armenia, as a miniscule country, could be crushed
    among the rivalry of the superpowers, but thus far, it has been
    managing its foreign policy prudently. A few months ago, when Foreign
    Minister Eduard Nalbandian was touring Latin American countries,
    some opposition publications tried to ridicule his visit to that part
    of the world, which resulted in Bolivia joining the countries which
    have recognized the Armenian Genocide, and Mexico scrapping plans
    to dedicate a public park to the late Azeri leader Heydar Aliyev,
    as well as generating a tremendous amount of goodwill. Incidentally,
    Venezuela and Nicaragua are the two countries -- besides Russia --
    to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. There is
    potential that those counties may eventually recognize the independence
    of Karabagh (Artsakh) when the conditions are ripe.

    Equally successful is Armenia's China policy. Given the political
    volatility in the region and rampant corruption in Armenia, individual
    investors have thus far been far and few in between. Only a powerful
    country like China could take the risk in investing in Armenia.

    Many consider Sargisian's trip to China as "historic" and "a
    breakthrough" as it opened the prospects of economic recovery. At
    the conclusion of the presidential trip, an official communique has
    been issued, where parties pledge to continue the relations "based
    on mutual respect, equality and reciprocal interest."

    The Armenian side has promised not to recognize Taiwan's independence,
    since it considers the island an integral part of China, while
    the Chinese side agreed to support "the peaceful settlement of the
    Karabagh conflict on the basis of the principles of UN Charter and
    universal norms of international law."

    A statement with little and practical significance.

    What is more significant is President Zi Jinxing's acceptance of an
    invitation to visit Armenia.

    The other significant development is the bilateral economic cooperation
    in the fields of energy, transport, chemical industry, education,
    science, culture, aviation and tourism. Armenia's foreign trade with
    China has reached $588 million in 2014, an increase of 30 percent
    from the previous year.

    China has agreed to provide preferential interstate credit to Armenia.

    Armenia will join China's Silk Road Project, which seeks to boost
    the EEU's economic activities with China.

    Armenia needs any economic stimulus that it can receive, but this
    China trip also has offered Armenia to brake the narrowing chokehold
    of transportation and communication network imposed by Turkey and
    Azerbaijan, with the collusion of Georgia. They have built railway
    systems and laid gas and oil pipelines bypassing Armenia. China has
    pledged to invest in the North-South Highway that will connect Georgia
    and Iran through Armenia.

    Another major significant project is the construction of a new nuclear
    power plant, which Russia promised but never delivered, nor did it
    allow European countries to develop it.

    Military cooperation between the two countries is an existential
    issue for Armenia, as Russia is arming Azerbaijan alarmingly,
    while reassuring Armenia that the military balance between the two
    counties will be maintained by the presence of the Russian military
    base in Gumri.

    Recently, a Russian official announced that Russian arms in Armenia
    cannot be used to stave off Azeri incursions, leading one to ask
    when they can be deployed. Can Armenia depend on them? That is why
    President Sargisian complained recently that the Azeris are using
    Russian arms to kill Armenian soldiers.

    It is hoped that China's assistance will maintain military parity
    between the two antagonistic countries.

    China is wary of Turkey's pan-Turanistic ambitions directed toward
    Central Asia, reaching Beijing's doorstep. Although the Chinese
    recently agreed to sell air defense systems to Turkey, knowing well
    that Ankara has been training terrorists and sending them to China's
    Xingjian Province where 8 million Muslim Uyghurs live and they are
    agitating for independence from time to time. Especially, the East
    Turkistan Islamic Movement has been very active against Chinese rule.

    The last time there was a flare-up in the province Erdogan accused
    Chinese authorities of perpetrating Genocide against their Muslim
    minority.

    The Chinese government realizes that Armenia is one roadblock on
    Ankara's pan-Turkic ambitions, no matter how small. Therefore, there
    is a value in Armenia, which is militarily viable. Perhaps that is
    where Beijing's and Yerevan's strategic interests converge.

    Although Benjamin Netanyahu, in his tutorial speech at US Congress
    stated that "your enemy's enemy is still your enemy," in this case,
    our enemy's enemy turns out to be our friend.

    Considering the relative sizes of the two counties, the recent
    visit of Mr. Sargisian to Beijing resembles the handshake of David
    and Goliath, though none of them has ever thrown any stones at each
    other in the past.

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