China’s soft power investment in Caucasus region gains traction
China often uses official media as a tool of soft power. Although there is no local office of any Chinese state-owned media agency in the South Caucasus, CGTN, a channel of the China Media Group, has been presenting news and innovations related to China in Azerbaijani, Georgian and Armenian through social networks such as Facebook and Twitter since 2022.
The main interest and attention of CGTN’s social media pages come from Azerbaijani and Armenian audiences.
The news portal of CGTN, one of the six international channels of China Global Television Network, is part of the Central Propaganda Department of the CCP. The channel, which broadcasts 24 hours a day in five global languages (Arabic, English, Russian, Spanish and French), for now, does not broadcast in the South Caucasus, it has been learnt.
Several Azerbaijani students have been able to study at various universities in China with the help of fully or partially funded scholarship programs offered by different institutions.
Confucius Institutes are playing a role in this.
In addition to the Confucius Institutes, the Chinese Embassy in Azerbaijan is also actively working to promote Chinese culture among students. Chinese Culture Rooms have been established in middle schools in Azerbaijan.
In Georgia, under the agreement signed with China in 2019, middle school students in Georgia are offered Chinese-language classes in addition to other foreign languages in compliance with national curriculum standards.
