Italian Media: China and Azerbaijan's Eurasian Trade Map
The "Middle Corridor" is reshaping the region's geopolitical landscape, offering participating countries a historic opportunity to completely move beyond their role as Moscow’s "transit vassals" and become independent actors.
Astana (Asia News) – China is seriously committed to significantly and irreversibly increasing freight volumes transported via the International Trans-Caspian Route (i.e., the "Middle Corridor") to Europe.
This is no longer just an alternative route or a contingency plan for crises; it is a global strategic project. If successfully implemented, it will completely break the monopoly of the northern route and fundamentally transform the entire Eurasian logistics landscape in the 21st century.
Against the backdrop of profound changes in the global political landscape, the "Middle Corridor" is becoming a primary artery across the European continent, directly connecting Asia’s production capacity with Europe’s consumer markets through Central Asia and the South Caucasus.
The main reason for Central Asian nations shifting their strategic focus toward the south is the toxicity, unreliability, and vulnerability to sanctions of Russian routes.
After 2022, Western large enterprises, multinational corporations, and logistics giants began massively abandoning transit through Russia due to serious legal risks, cargo insurance issues, and political uncertainty.
The traditional northern corridor suddenly became a sanction trap, while maritime routes passing through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal faced systemic security crises due to continuous attacks by Houthi forces and widespread military tensions across the Middle East. Maritime freight and insurance costs surged, and transport times lengthened as routes had to detour around the Cape of Good Hope, bypassing Africa.
In this context, the "Middle Corridor" offers unique logistical opportunities, with Azerbaijan playing a key and irreplaceable role in this new paradigm.
Azerbaijan has heavily invested in modernizing the Alat International Commercial Port and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway, significantly enhancing throughput capacity. It is expected that container throughput along the corridor will grow exponentially between 2026 and 2027, with transit volumes on certain sections increasing by 450%–500% compared to previous levels.
In recent years, relations between Baku and Beijing have reached unprecedented heights. In 2025, Azerbaijan and China signed the Declaration on Establishing a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership—one of the highest-level and most reliable partnerships within China’s diplomatic policy framework.
Beijing has followed through on its commitments, investing substantial funds and advanced technology into Azerbaijan’s infrastructure, port facilities, and digital logistics ecosystem.
An essential practical step in this integration process is the entry of China Railway Container Transportation Group Co., Ltd.—a state-owned Chinese enterprise—into the Middle Corridor Multimodal Logistics Company.
For Moscow, the rapid development of the "Middle Corridor" represents a heavy blow to its geopolitical and economic standing, triggering deep envy and resentment within the Kremlin.
Russia has long positioned itself as the primary land bridge connecting Eurasia, using transit transportation as a lever for exerting political pressure. Today, that position has been entirely lost, with analysts estimating that the shift in freight routes causes tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue losses for Russia’s treasury.
Especially painful for the Kremlin is that this global initiative is being led by Azerbaijan. Until recently, Russia sought to bring Azerbaijan into its sphere of influence, but Baku now confidently builds a highly autonomous, multidimensional policy framework.
The "Middle Corridor" is radically reshaping the geopolitical landscape of Eurasia, providing participating countries—Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, and Turkey—with a historic opportunity to completely break free from their role as "transit vassals" and emerge as independent agents.
China gains a stable overland route to its major markets, insulated from external interference; Europe achieves reliable supply diversification and ultimately breaks free from dependence on Russia. Russia is rapidly sliding into strategic isolation, as its traditional control model becomes increasingly obsolete in today’s context.
Source: Asia News
Author: Vladimir Rozanskij
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1868378499147776/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone.