June 9, 2026 - Senior Fellow for Eurasia and Director of Programs, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, Laura Linderman was quoted regarding Georgia and the United States in l’AntiDiplomatico. [link]
[Machine-translated from Italian]
The legislation reflects an increasingly hard line from Washington, which views economic cooperation between Georgia, Russia, and China as a strategic threat. Critics, however, argue that it is a classic example of Sinophobia and a hegemonic attempt to limit Tbilisi's sovereign right to choose its own development partners. According to this interpretation, the American approach—and, by extension, the European one—aims to prevent a normalization of relations between Georgia and Russia, keeping the South Caucasus in a state of controlled tension to preserve it as an anti-Russian buffer zone. In this context, some American analysts suggest using international financial tools to contain Chinese influence. Laura Linderman, director of Caucasus programs at the American Foreign Policy Council's Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, told RFE/RL that Washington should leverage its clout in the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. “There are many opportunities to contain China’s role in Georgia,” she said, calling for multilateral institutions to impose stringent conditions on infrastructure projects to limit subcontracting to Chinese companies.
