Chinese leader Xi Jinping set to meet Serbian officials on second leg of European tour

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping He is due to meet Serbian officials on Wednesday and said he hopes his visit will further strengthen already friendly relations with the Balkan country, which is seeking entry into the European Union.

Xi arrived in Serbia on Tuesday evening and was warmly welcomed by France, where he made a high-stakes state visit dominated by trade disputes and Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Xi will visit Hungary later on Wednesday, which, like Serbia, is considered one of China’s friendliest partners in Europe.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and other senior officials welcomed Xi at the airport on Tuesday after his plane was escorted by military aircraft. Vucic said Xi’s visit was a “great honor” and that China was a “source of inspiration” for Serbia.

Signs of pro-Chinese sentiments were clearly visible: a huge Chinese flag was placed on a skyscraper along a road leading into the city from the airport. Smaller Chinese and Serbian flags could be seen in the city center and along a highway.

China has invested billions of dollars in Serbia in the form of investments and loans, particularly in the mining and infrastructure sectors. The two countries signed a strategic partnership agreement in 2016 and a free trade agreement last year.

Serbia, a landlocked country in the heart of the Balkans, is a key country in China’s Belt and Road initiative, intended 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 American planes during the NATO air war over Kosovo, during which three Chinese citizens were been killed.

This incident helped forge close political ties between China and Serbia.

“Our bilateral relationship has stood the test of the changing international environment and become a fine example of state-to-state relations,” Xi said in an arrival statement released by China’s Ministry of Affairs. foreign. He described the friendship between Serbia and China as “ironclad.”

“At a new historic starting point, China will work with Serbia to stick to the original aspiration and forge ahead together to open a new perspective in China-Serbia cooperation with stronger momentum, greater reach and better quality,” added XI. “I am confident that this visit will be fruitful and open a new chapter in China-Serbia relations.”

Chinese companies operate Serbia’s largest copper mine and steel mill, and are also building numerous roads and highways across the country, as well as a railway to Hungary, its northern neighbor.

In 2014, Hungary and Serbia struck a deal with Beijing to upgrade the railway between their capitals Budapest and Belgrade, as part of a Belt and Road plan to connect the port of Piraeus, in Greece, under Chinese control, in the south, a point of entry. for Chinese products to Central and Eastern Europe.

The more than $2 billion project is expected to be completed in 2026, after numerous delays.

In 2022, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Serbia received a semi-secret delivery of a sophisticated Chinese anti-aircraft system flown on US Army Y-20 transport planes. Chinese air.

The delivery of weapons to the territory of at least two NATO member states, Turkey and Bulgaria, was seen by experts as a demonstration of China’s growing global reach.