Tbilisi Moves Closer to Beijing Despite Courting Washington

Georgia, once Washington’s closest partner in the post-Soviet space, is deepening its strategic alignment with China. On June 9, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili announced that the two countries had elevated their bilateral relations to a “comprehensive strategic partnership.”

For Washington, the timing should be telling. Georgia’s ruling party is cozying up to America’s greatest foe mere weeks after professing a desire to repair ties with the United States.

Georgia’s China Partnership Enters a New Stage

The comprehensive strategic partnership builds on the strategic partnership agreement Georgia and China signed in July 2023. That agreement called for expanded cooperation in trade, infrastructure, transport, communications, tourism, culture, and people-to-people exchanges. It also committed Georgia to supporting the “One China” principle — in essence, that Beijing ought to rule Taiwan — and deepening cooperation under China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze presented the new agreement as the next stage in a relationship that has expanded rapidly since 2023. Under the Georgian Dream party, Tbilisi has steadily deepened economic, financial, and infrastructure ties with China. Bilateral trade has grown, while Georgia has linked its banking system more closely to China and selected Chinese companies for strategic infrastructure projects.

Georgian Dream Seeks a U.S. Reset

The China upgrade comes as Georgian Dream is actively seeking to improve relations with the United States. Those once-strong ties have soured in recent years due to Georgian Dream’s years of democratic backsliding, pressure on the opposition and civil society, a deteriorating environment for Western investors, and cozying up to authoritarian enemies of America.

From May 25 to 28, a U.S. State Department delegation visited Tbilisi and met with Georgian government and opposition officials to discuss the future of bilateral relations. Following the visit, the delegation stated that Washington is prepared to pursue a constructive and forward-looking relationship with Georgia. But the U.S. statement emphasized that progress would require concrete actions by Tbilisi, including a stable political environment that enables opposition engagement and a business climate more favorable to American firms.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio reinforced that message during June 3 testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Asked about Georgia’s authoritarian drift and troubling ties to China and Iran, Rubio echoed those concerns. He then explained that the Georgian government has communicated that it wants to improve relations with the United States, adding, “We’ve outlined to them what that would take.” Rubio made clear that Washington hopes to see a meaningful change in Georgia’s “trajectory” and “behavior.”

Meanwhile, concern over Georgia’s current direction is growing in Congress. On June 8, the House passed HR 7668, the Countering China’s Control of the Caucasus Act, which requires the administration to assess Russian and Chinese intelligence assets and influence in Georgia. The bill also requires a five-year U.S. strategy for bilateral relations with Georgia, including an assessment of whether the country should remain a top recipient of U.S. funding in Europe and Eurasia and whether Washington should continue investing in its partnership with Tbilisi.

A Reset Demands Real Change

Before letting Georgia in from the cold, Washington should insist that Georgian Dream reverse the behavior that damaged the relationship in the first place. At a minimum, that means creating conditions for credible elections, ending efforts to sideline or ban leading opposition parties, releasing political prisoners, repealing repressive legislation that targets civil society and independent media, and improving the business climate for American firms. It should also mean reassessing strategic infrastructure decisions that deepen Georgia’s dependence on Chinese state-linked companies.

However, the China upgrade suggests Georgian Dream is not preparing for that kind of reversal. And so, rather than rewarding Tbilisi’s rhetoric about a reset, Washington should consider additional targeted sanctions against Georgian Dream officials and enablers responsible for democratic backsliding, political repression, and deepening strategic alignment with America’s adversaries.

Keti Korkiya is a research analyst in the Russia Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). For more analysis from Keti and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focused on national security and foreign policy.