This Was Not Our Fight: Why Did Armenia Join the Anti-China Alliance? - Suren Sargsyan

International relations expert Suren Sargsyan has made a post on his Facebook page discussing the anti-China alliance that Armenia has joined. Below is the post.

“Nevertheless, why did Armenia join the anti-China alliance? As I promised, I am addressing the lack of justification for Armenia's membership in the anti-China alliance.

I would not have commented on this if the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not pinned blame on me for stating that 'there can be various assessments and classifications regarding Armenia’s participation in each international initiative, which are not always appropriate, especially in cases where analyses try to understand the interests of everyone but Armenia.'

So, if that is the case, let's discuss the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' failure to understand Armenia's interests:

1. If there are issues related to religious freedom in Armenia, and if any religious minority in Armenia (Russians, Yazidis, etc.) faces problems regarding religious freedom, then our membership in the alliance would be logical.
2. If the Armenian community in Iran, Turkey, Syria, any other Arab country, Europe, or Latin America faces issues related to religious freedom, then our membership in the alliance would be logical.
3. If the alliance targeted Azerbaijan or Turkey, our membership would be logical.

Are there 'Armenia's interests' within these points? There are not.

One of the justifications for joining the anti-China alliance is: 'As a nation that has survived genocide, we place great importance on the protection of religious minorities.' A brilliant statement. I agree. However, a logical question arises here. How many genocides has Armenia recognized in the past two years concerning the many genocides you speak of, including those currently occurring? Why doesn’t the flagbearer of genocide prevention recognize the dozens of genocides that have taken place in the 20th and 21st centuries? Is it a political issue? And if others do not recognize our genocide, why do we criticize them? Do we differ from them?

And finally, it should not be claimed that the alliance is not a voting or resolution-passing body. According to the alliance's charter, all disclosed issues will be raised and addressed by like-minded countries in the UN and other international organizations.

I reiterate, this was the battlefield of US-China competition, which was not our fight. Yet, Armenia became the 29th member of the anti-China alliance out of 193 countries. As Secretary of State Pompeo stated during the alliance meeting, 'The Chinese Communist Party is an enemy of all religions.'