This interview is conducted under the special rubric “Meet Global Partners” of the Eurasian Continent Research Association Satine Sahakyan (Eurasian Continent Research Association), interviews our distinguished and dedicated member, Mr. Yeghia Tashjian Regional and International Affairs Cluster Coordinator at the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut.

1. What motivated you to research China’s and India’s roles in the Eurasian Continental infrastructure?

My interest goes back to December 2019, when I attended the Eurasian Research on Modern China and Eurasia Conference in Yerevan, where a friend introduced me to Dr. Mher Sahakyan and other scholars. At the time, I was completing my master’s degree at the American University of Beirut, and my thesis focused on China–Iran relations. India was not yet part of my field of study. However, at the conference I met Dr. Sudhir Singh, who invited me to New Delhi in February 2020. It was my first visit to India, and indeed to Asia.

After that trip, I began writing articles on India’s foreign policy and on Armenian–Indian relations, arguing that the two countries should strengthen their security and trade ties. Back then, the idea was still at an early stage. Over time, my continued participation in the conference and other regional and international conferences encouraged me to focus on connectivity and economic corridors. These topics were not yet widely discussed in academic and policymaking circles in the Middle East, and they were rarely addressed in Lebanon. Being a Lebanese of Armenian origin helped me bridge the two regions, the South Caucasus and the Middle East. This research opened an academic path for me and motivated me to write more and network with scholars and officials.

As for why China and India: international politics is not only about the United States, Europe, or Russia. China is a global power that cannot be ignored, and India is a rising Eurasian power. Through security arrangements, trade, and connectivity projects, their foreign policies are shaping geopolitical and geo-economic developments in the South Caucasus and the Middle East. To understand these regional dynamics, it is essential to study how these continental powers interact with regional and local actors and invest in several infrastructural projects. After all, can we talk about these tow regions without mentioning the Belt and Road Initiative, International North-South Transport Corridor and India-Middle East-Europe Corridor?

Yeghia Tashjian delivers speech during V Eurasian Research on Modern China and Eurasia Conference.

2. You have attended the Eurasian Research on Modern China and Eurasia Conference serval times. What has been your experience and why should other scholars join? What makes this conference stand out among the many international conferences at Middle East and Europe?

I have taken part in the Eurasian Research on Modern China and Eurasia three times, starting in 2019, and each edition has been both intellectually rewarding and professionally productive. What I value the most is that it is a conference that leads to somewhere (as discussions continue into collaborative publications) and for me it puts Armenia on the international academic map. After the 2023 Conference, the organizing team produced the Routledge Handbook of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Eurasia, published in 2025 which I had contributed with a book chapter.

There are two main reasons why I would encourage other scholars to attend and participate for this conference:

First, the conference is international and interdisciplinary. Last year’s edition convened 63 speakers from 20 countries across Asia and Europe. Thus, facilitating exchange of ideas and opening up new paths for discussions and networking.

Second, compared to many conferences that I have participated, it offers publishing opportunities. This is very important for young scholars and researchers like us who are preparing for future plans in terms of PhDs.

Finally, what distinguishes this conference is that it does not treat regions as separate regional silos. It treats Eurasia as one connected space and asks how regional or continental actors shape it.

3. What encouraged you to join the Eurasian Continent Research Association (ECRA)? What advice would you offer to other scholars considering membership and what opportunities and benefits can they find through this association?

One of the achievements of this conference is that it has created a lasting community around it. As I mentioned in my answer to the previous question, what drew me to the Eurasian Continent Research Association was the it treats the continent as one connected space of study. That matched how I see the region myself in terms of economic corridors, energy routes, trade networks, and great power competition. I was also encouraged by the association’s emphasis on collaboration rather than just membership. Through its annual conferences, book publications, webinars and its focus on mentoring early-career researchers, ECRA offered a community where I could share my work and also get constructive feedback and learn.

It also provides valuable opportunities as members gain access to an international and interdisciplinary network of researches focused on China and the wider Eurasian continent. Finally, it provides the academic platform for discussions and dialogue. At a time when Eurasia is being reshaped by new connectivity projects and geopolitical rivalries and wars, this kind of exchange is not only academically useful but necessary.

My main advice to others is that the value of an association like ECRA is not with its members, but their involvement. That is to be present at the annual conferences and webinars, contribute to the edited volumes, review colleagues’’ work and reach out to members whose research overlaps with yours. This is the value of networking.

4. Could you tell us about your career trajectory and experience as an Armenian scholar born in Lebanon who is actively engageded in international studies and journalism?

My career began in journalism, writing articles for Aztag, the Lebanese-Armenian daily. Before long, I was also contributing to the Boston-based Armenian Weekly. Eventually I traded the newsroom for academia and policy platforms when I started working at the Issam Fares Institute. I’d love to say the transition was smooth. It was not. But let me rewind, because there’s a funny story here.

When I decided to study Political Science at Haigazian University, my family was not exactly thrilled. Their argument was simple: “It’s not a profitable job.” My father had bigger plans. He wanted me to take over the family business as his health was deteriorating. I, on the other hand, had zero interest in that. So, I did what any responsible young adult would do: I lied. For years, I secretly studied political science while my family believed I was on a very different, very “profitable” path. The plan worked perfectly, right up until the graduation ceremony, where my secret walked across the stage with my name on it. Let’s just say it was a memorable day for everyone involved.

Then came the next challenge: finding a job. Apparently, my family had a point about profitability. For a while, I juggled three part-time jobs every single day, until I was finally accepted into the MA program in Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut (AUB). At the time, the master’s program was housed under the Issam Fares Institute (it later was attached to the Political Studies and Public Administration department), and that’s where my research identity really took shape. It’s also where I learned the art of networking and began taking part in exchange programs and conferences. In other words, the “unprofitable” degree turned out to be the best investment I ever made.

Being a Lebanese-Armenian researcher helped me a lot. As I started connecting the South Caucasus to the Middle East, eventually both regions are fragile and almost similar regional actors are shaping the geopolitical landscape of both regions. Most importantly, Armenia and Lebanon share similar challenges, small states situated in a conflict zone and squeezed between great powers. As the region is shifting towards a Multipolar World order 2.0, more scholars will start analyzing the behavior of small states. And my identity and career background is a reflection of this study.

5. How does your strategic location in Lebanon help you to understand the developments in the Middle East? In what ways do you use this experience on the ground in your research and publications?

Lebanon works almost like a pressure gauge for the region. In his famous book by David Hirst “Beware of Small States: Lebanon, Battleground of the Middle East”, the author described how this small country could absorb and spread conflicts to its neighborhood. Living here is stressful, but also it at the intersection points of the Middle East and the East Med. Lebanon is also unique as its political system is based on sectarian power sharing and each community has historically cultivated external patrons. As such the country is vulnerable to regional and global conflicts.

However, there are advantages as well. Here you have the opportunity to meet diplomats and experts from rival camps.  Lebanon has also a comparatively open media environment and active civil society. Beirut host research centers and think tanks and important universities and large community of international journalists. It is also a multilingual environment which gives you access to sources and conversations that researchers working from abroad often miss. Finally, by living in Lebanon and experiencing regional developments, it is not so difficult to understand the geopolitical environment of the South Caucasus.

6. Please tell us more about your “The International North–South Transport Corridor and the Belt and Road Initiative in the South Caucasus” published in the Routledge Handbook of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Eurasia. Please explain why it is important to understand economic corridors and how wars in the north and south of Eurasia affect development of the International North–South Transport Corridor and the Belt and Road Initiative in the South Caucasus.

The idea of the chapter was constructed after my consecutive participation at the workshops of the Regional Stability in South Caucasus Study Group (RSSC SG), and I am thankful for the co-chairs for that. It was later developed at the Eurasian Research on Modern China and Eurasia Conference in 2023 and I could not have published it without the support and mentoring of Dr. Mher Sahakyan which I am grateful for his especially that I was writing while Beirut was being bombed.

In the chapter I look at how two major connectivity projects meet in the South Caucasus. One is the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC), a north–south axis linking Russia to the Indian Ocean. The other is China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), an east–west axis. The region sits where these two axes cross, which makes it both an opportunity and a battleground. I also argue that corridors are not just infrastructure, they are instruments of foreign policy. Whoever builds, finances, and secures a route gains influence over the states it passes through, and states that are bypassed lose leverage. For small states such as Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, a corridor can mean regional integration and transit revenue or marginalization. This is why I describe the current competition between corridors as “corridor wars”: competing routes are proxies for competing visions of the Eurasian order. To understand corridors is to understand where power is shifting.

This is why these two corridors cannot be understood as purely economic projects. As they are shaped by conflicts and power struggle and they in turn shape the strategic choices of the region’s states.

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