Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Belgrade on Tuesday (May 7) as Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić continues to resist increasing pressure to align his foreign policy with Western countries, especially the EU. What he did is frowned upon.
“China is the best partner for Serbia to achieve its national goals,” Vučić told a Chinese television station, adding that the time has come to take bilateral relations to a new level, a strategic partnership. Surveillance camera He spoke in a wide-ranging interview ahead of President Xi’s visit.
To illustrate that, the capital of Serbia is covered They raised the Chinese flag as a gesture of welcome.
China’s influence in European Union (EU) candidate countries has increased significantly over the past decade, with Chinese investments exceeding EUR 5.1 billion between 2014 and 2023.
President Xi’s visit also coincides with a highly symbolic date: the 25th anniversary of the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade by NATO. The incident occurred during the Allied operation sparked by the Racak massacre during the Kosovo war, which ultimately saw the withdrawal of Yugoslav troops and an end to the conflict.
But the incident, which the U.S. claimed was an accident, “is one of the elements on which China has based its anti-Western rhetoric for the past 25 years,” said Stefan Vladisavliev, an analyst at the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence. Stated. BFPE) told Euractiv.
“This visit to Belgrade will be a means for President Xi to confirm not only the ties that bind China and Serbia, but also, above all, China’s new role in the world order,” he added.
economic ties
China has become Belgrade’s second-largest trading partner, with imports from China to Serbia expected to reach €3.6 billion (2020), even though the EU still accounts for 60% of the country’s trade. 26.9% increase).
Chinese investments are in strategic areas such as the automotive industry, the copper and gold mines in the Bor region that were acquired by Chinese giant Zijin Mining Group in 2018, and the Smederevo steel works that came under the control of Chinese group HBIS in 2018. focusing. 46 million euros in 2016.
During President Xi’s visit to Serbia, new contracts for the construction of the Belgrade metro and the 2027 international exhibition in the Serbian capital are likely to be announced.
Mr Vučić had already signed a free trade agreement with the Chinese side last year, which came into effect on July 1st and is set to expire someday once Serbia joins the EU, allowing him to sell thousands of products from both countries, including Serbian honey and wine. The product is targeted.
Belgrade had already signed an infrastructure framework agreement with China in 2009, exempting Chinese companies from restrictive bidding in public contract tenders.
This provision has been condemned by Serbian civil society, citing the opacity of the contracts signed by the Chinese (often financed by loans from banks that are also Chinese) and the It points out repeated attacks on the environment. Dormno lignite mine. It supplies the Kostrac power plant near the Danube River.
Public opinion is not satisfied with the EU
As Russia’s war in Ukraine continues and its influence extends across the continent, many are concerned about how it will affect regions with a history of instability, such as the Western Balkans.
The EU announced a €6 billion growth plan for the Western Balkans at the end of 2023 to channel funding into reforms and strengthen the region’s ties to the European single market.
However, public opinion in Serbia remains unconvinced, with only 33% of respondents to a recent survey saying they supported EU membership, compared to countries like Kosovo and Albania, which boast support rates of over 90%. This is the lowest percentage in the region.
Serbia is a candidate country for EU membership, but little progress has been made, and earlier this year the European Commission changed Serbia’s terms of negotiations, threatening to block Kosovo’s efforts to join international organizations such as the Council of Europe and the EU. I insisted that it be stopped.
In December 2023, then-Prime Minister Ana Brnabic wrote to the European Commission stating that the country would not implement some of the agreements reached under the EU-backed dialogue.
Belgrade also refuses to align itself with the EU’s foreign policy regarding Russia and has strengthened economic and diplomatic ties with a series of high-level visits and agreements.
Relations with Russia and China
A 2023 survey by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy found that 42% of Serbs think they should depend on Russia, and almost 8% (3rd place) think they should depend on China for international relations. It has been found. Only around 25% of people trust the EU.
Another recent survey found that more than 75% of Serbs consider China “friendly” and 64% believe that relations between Serbia and China will improve.
These numbers have steadily increased since the coronavirus pandemic, when the EU failed to provide prompt and adequate support to candidate countries, while a Chinese plane delivered surgical masks and gloves to Belgrade airport. It has increased.
At the time, walls and placards in Serbian streets were covered with large signs proclaiming, “Thank you, Brother Xi.”
China’s political rhetoric emphasizing the state’s territorial integrity is also echoing in Serbia, given the ongoing conflict with Kosovo.
In February 2024, Vučić explained this in an interview on Chinese TV. CGTN: “For us, it’s very simple. Taiwan is China. And what you do, when you do it, and how you do it is up to you.”
**Alice Taylor contributed reporting.
[Edited by Alexandra Brzozowski/Alice Taylor]