For more than a year, the past marching march in Georgia, a former Soviet Republic bordering Russia, accuse their government of enabling Moscow more and more confirm its state over their country.

But driving around this nation of 3.6 million people in the heart of the mountainous caucasus, the influence of another ambitious power becomes obvious. China has enhanced its activities in the region in recent years, building infrastructure and expanding trade routes, which he hopes to increase her economy.

In the central Georgia, workers from China are setting up sublime viaducts and cut dozens of tunnels through hard rock to build the first modern highway to connect the East and west of the country. In the north, a 5.5 -kilometer tunnel was bored through the mountains, a Chinese group of railway tunnels to expand the existing highway to Russia.

In the west, preparations are underway for the second Chinese company, China Communications Construction Company, to develop the first port of the deep sea at the Black Sea as part of Beijing’s belt and road infrastructure and trade initiative.

Luke, still unnamed, is now at the heart of the Georgia and abroad discussion on the growing influence of China in the region and the turn of the Caucasus of nations away from the west. Inflammation is the fact that the project was taken away from the group of Georgian, European and American companies – the consortium for the development of Anaklija – before it was eventually promised to the Chinese company last May.

Salome Zourabichovili, a former Georgian president who appeared last year as a leading vote for a shedgent opposition, the move said He was like “the sting of our relations with our American and European partners.”

In July, a State Department official said the assignment The Luke project was a “incompatible” company with the desire to join “international organizations based in the US and the EU”. In 2019, the United States charged Luke as something that could “prevent Georgia from becoming prey to Russian or Chinese economic influence.” Last week, representative Joe Wilson, a Republican from South Carolina, criticized the decisionsaying that this benefited from China to the detriment of US companies.

The Georgian government announced that the decision to surrender Luke would ensure that it was implemented “at the highest level”.

“Chinese burdens are of particular importance for the most effective action of this port,” Iraqli Kobakhidze, Prime Minister from Georgia, said Shortly after the announcement.

And some analysts see the turning of the earth away from the west as a rational choice with respect to the geopolitics of the region.

“Georgia tries to get more from China, an actor who is growing in the region,” said Dimitri Moniava, head of the Strategic Communication Center, research groups in Tbilisi, Gruzi’s capital.

Located in the broken former Anaklia resort, where the packets of stray dogs are now patrolling the wetlands of abandoned hotels, Luka is likely to transform international trade on the Caucasus and wider region. For Georgia, Luka would help develop the country as a regional traffic center.

For China, Luke would become an entrance to the Caucasus, connecting Asia to Europe through what it calls the “middle corridor”. It would allow Chinese companies to deliver their goods from China through railways in central Asia and via Kaspijc to Europe, crossing Russia, which was aimed at Western sanctions due to the Ukraine war.

“Georgia is a key connection to the middle corridor, and Luka Anaklia could be the main last nail,” Zhou Qian, a Chinese ambassador to Georgia, said in an interview with Zhou Qian. “Georgia location is very, very important” to provide “connection between Europe and Asia,” he said.

The Georgian government said that the details of the agreement were still determined, but that the Chinese company would own 49 percent of the port, and the rest held the rest as a majority share. The Georgian government says he expects a Chinese construction company to invest $ 600 million in the first phase.

China Communications Construction did not respond to comment requests.

Russia, which is still considered a major commercial partner in Georgia, could also be the main user of the project. Novorossayysk, the main Russian port on the Black Sea, extinguished Western sanctions, and with new routes built on China, the goods could move to Russia and beyond the unobstructed through the Caucasus.

The situation of Luka emphasizes that rivalry between China and the United States is growing, retreating in smaller countries like Georgia.

“On the one hand, you will have China, which will be aligned with Russia,, On the other hand, you will have the West, “said Ram Ben Tzion, executive director of a pubic, who analyzes the utmost trade limitations.” This port is at the intersection of these two worlds. “

Projects such as Luka Anaklia also became increasingly important for the Chinese companies in China slowing economic growth, said Brad Parks, who studies Chinese loans and trade practices at the Global Development Center, a Washington Research Center.

“It’s really about China that deals with her own economic weaknesses at home,” Mr. Parks said.

The Anaklia Development Consortium worked in a domestication and another job as part of the Port project when his contract was canceled in 2020.

Mamuka Khazaradze, a former chief of consortium, said he believed that Geopolitics was behind the decision of the ruling Dream Gruzi party to give up on her company’s contract. The party is moving behind the scenes Bidzina Ivanishvilioligarch with long relationships with Russia. Mr. Khazaradze was elected opposition member of the Parliament in October, but, like other members of the opposition, he boycotted the legislation.

Mr. Khazaradze said he saw a hint of a shift over Luke in 2017, when Mr. Ivanishvili invited him to a meeting. “He asked,” What do Americans do in the Black Sea? “, He said.” He asked me to stop the project, “he said.” It was the first sign that these guys change the country’s direction. “

Mr. Khazaradze said he had invested more than $ 40 million into the project and refused to withdraw. The government then opened a criminal case for launching money against him and his partner, and then canceled the port contract.

Consortium Anaklia Development fought at the European Arbitration Court, but last year lost the case, When the court said that the group “took the risk that the Government would undermine the project.” The second case in the Netherlands is ongoing.

Representatives of the Georgian Government did not respond to the commentary requests. In the past, the government announced that the Anaklia Development Consortium had been rejected because it did not have enough funds to complete the project. (Mr. Khazaradze denied it.)

Mr. Khazaradze then founded a political party called Lelo who organized protests against the Government, who won the election in October, which challenged the very broken opposition of the country.

Giorgi Gakharia, who was the Prime Minister when an anaklia consortium agreement was canceled, also said that Mr. Khazaradze and his partners do not have enough money to complete the project.

“They just couldn’t fulfill their obligations,” said Mr. Gakharia, who has since split with Mr. Ivanishvili -om and now struggling with the opposition. In an interview, he said there was no pressure from Mr. Ivanashvili to cancel the project.

For now, Anaklia remains neglected. Hrsty yacht floats in the city wetland marina, a full of a rusty skeleton of what will be a restaurant with a Chinese theme before it was abandoned ten years ago.

But the trucks nearby are now pulling giant stones from all over Georgia to use the construction of a port breakwater. If everything goes as planned, the place will turn into a busy center of up to 600,000 containers for about six years.

Jemal Kvartskhava, who oversees several dozen men who bring stones to their place and build accommodation for the expected rush of workers, said he was not really interested in who built the port as long as he became operational.

“This project is good,” said Mr. Kvarskhava, 28. “It will bring new energy to the country.”