[my_adsense_shortcode_1]
BELGRADE – Chinese leader Xi Jinping is set to meet Wednesday with Serbian officials and stated he hopes his discuss with will additional spice up already pleasant family members with the Balkan nation, which is looking for access to the European Union.
Xi arrived in Serbia to a heat welcome on Tuesday night from France, the place he had a high-stakes state visit ruled through trade disputes and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Xi will continue to Hungary later on Wednesday, which, like Serbia, is observed as one of China’s extra pleasant companions in Europe.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and different most sensible officials welcomed Xi at the airport on Tuesday after his aircraft was once escorted through army jets. Vucic stated Xi’s discuss with was once a “nice honor” and that China is an “inspiration” for Serbia.
Signs of pro-China sentiments were clearly visible — a huge Chinese flag was placed on a skyscraper along a roadway leading into the city from the airport. Smaller Chinese and Serbian flags could be seen downtown and along a highway.
China has poured billions of dollars into Serbia in investment and loans, particularly in mining and infrastructure. The two countries signed an agreement on a strategic partnership in 2016 and a free trade agreement last year.
Serbia, a landlocked nation in the heart of the Balkans, has been a key country in China’s Belt and Road initiative designed to increase Beijing’s influence in Europe through economic investment. Critics say it could serve as a Chinese Trojan horse and gateway to Europe.
Xi also arrived in Serbia on a symbolic date: the 25th anniversary of the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade by U.S. jets during NATO’s air war over Kosovo, when three Chinese citizens were killed.
The incident has helped forge close political ties between China and Serbia.
“Our bilateral relationship has stood the test of changing international environment and become a fine example of state-to-state relations,” Xi said in an arrival statement published by China’s Foreign Ministry. He described the Serbia-China friendship as “ironclad.”
“Standing at a new historical starting point, China will work with Serbia to jointly stay committed to the original aspiration and forge ahead together to open up a new vista in China-Serbia cooperation with stronger momentum, greater scope, and higher quality,” added Xi. “I am confident that this visit will be a fruitful one and will open up a new chapter in China-Serbia relations.”
Chinese companies are running Serbia’s biggest copper mine and a steel mill, and are also building scores of roads and highways across the country, along with a railway toward northern neighbor Hungary.
In 2014, Hungary and Serbia concluded an agreement with Beijing to modernize the railway between their capitals of Budapest and Belgrade, part of a Belt and Road plan to link up with the Chinese-controlled port of Piraeus in Greece to the south, an entry point for Chinese goods to Central and Eastern Europe.
The more than $2 billion project is expected to be completed in 2026, after numerous delays.
In 2022, in a while after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Serbia took semi-secret delivery of an advanced Chinese anti-aircraft device flown in on Chinese Air Force Y-20 shipping planes.
The fingers supply over the territory of a minimum of two NATO member states, Turkey and Bulgaria, was once observed through professionals as an illustration of China’s rising world achieve.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This subject material will not be printed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed with out permission.
