Xi Jinping in Belgrade: Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Between China and Serbia

The crime in Srebrenica took place during the civil war in Yugoslavia in 1995, a lot has been written about that event, and numerous court verdicts have been passed. All Western diplomacy and all Western media participated in the construction of the narrative about the “Serbian genocide.” The facts presented by the Serbian side were not taken into account at all. If we exclude the post-Yugoslav space where there is still interest in that topic, the interest of politicians in that topic in the world is either small or non-existent. For the new generation of politicians, it even represents a part of some ancient history that they do not remember.

Where exactly now, almost three decades later, did the initiative to re-actualize that issue come from in the UN General Assembly? And why did China get so interested in that issue to decisively vote against it? At the same time, one should also bear in mind that the Resolution is not binding in a legal and formal sense, it is more of a political declaration. Why put so much diplomatic effort into something that is non-binding?

Fierce diplomatic engagement of China (and not only China, Russia also actively lobbied against this proposal, but this article is dedicated to Sino-Serbian relations) followed Xi Jinping’s visit to Belgrade and talks with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. The collective West is punishing Serbia. Hence the initiative in the UN General Assembly. Although it is not explicitly written anywhere in the adopted document, the goal is to induce the thesis of “Serbian genocidal nature.” Punishment is taking place because of a simple thing: the foreign policy of Serbia differs from the foreign policy of other Balkan states. Serbia has not imposed sanctions on Russia, is not a member of NATO, does not follow EU foreign and security policy… Serbia also has special relations with China. During Xi Jinping’s visit, those special relations were confirmed through the coordination of a new initiative with an unusual name: Statement on deepening and raising the strategic partnership and building the alliance between Serbia and China with a common future in the new era.

As planned earlier, the central topic of the Chinese president’s visit to Belgrade was supposed to be the entry into force of the Free Trade Agreement between the two countries. The agreement was negotiated for a long time, there was a lot of polemic about its content, theorists are impatiently waiting for the results of its implementation. We are dealing with two, by all parameters, unequal partners. If in practice it turns out that significant perspectives are opening up for the Serbian economy, then this can represent a good signal or even a roadmap for other European countries. Of course, the diametrically opposite picture is widespread in the (pro)Western media. On the day of the Chinese President’s arrival in Belgrade, the daily newspaper “Danas” published the headline “A typical colonizer-colony relationship in action” criticizing the warm welcome given to President Xi in Belgrade. In the primetime news program of television N1 the day before, professor of the Faculty of Economics Miodrag Zec explained that the relations between Serbia and China resemble those of “the mouse and the elephant, and we all know how the mouse will end up in that story.” The thesis is being promoted that this bilateral arrangement will benefit only China, that is, that the Serbian economy will simply be suffocated under Chinese pressure.

However, looking at the circumstances realistically, one gets the impression that Serbia can benefit greatly from everything. In the era of the cooling of relations between Washington and Beijing, and consequently the expected complication of the EU’s relations with China, Belgrade is becoming a place for continued unhindered cooperation between European and Chinese businessmen. Chinese exports to the EU can go through Serbia, European investors can market their goods and services on the Chinese market through Serbia. It is more important for China to maintain those relations with European countries through Serbia and Hungary (President Xi left Belgrade for Budapest), than to “colonize” these two countries. The thesis about “colonization” is meaningless.

Also, as is usual when the visit of the head of state is organized, more than 30 interstate agreements and memoranda of cooperation were signed on this occasion. Documents from various fields hint at new impulses in the bilateral framework, although experiences related to the implementation of previous memoranda are varied. Some were implemented and grew into serious projects, and some remained a dead letter on paper. Serbian Minister of Science Jelena Begović, feeling the need to show the public all the benefits of these new impulses in a bilateral framework, pointed out that the Chinese are already working on the construction of a lunar station and that thanks to the signed memoranda, Serbian scientists can also get involved in space research. Serbs in space! Serbia is becoming a cosmic power! Such explanations caused more laughter than they were taken seriously. After all, such explanations are irrelevant at this point. Undeniably, some of the agreements and memoranda will be fully implemented and grow into serious projects. But the goal of Xi Jinping’s visit was not related to the signing of agreements and memorandums, it turned out that it was not related to the presentation of the Free Trade Agreement either, the goal was, above all, political. Political issues overshadowed everything else.

First, Xi Jinping was in Belgrade for the 25th anniversary of the bombing of the Chinese embassy in the capital of Serbia. By bombing Belgrade in 1999, the NATO also hit the Chinese diplomatic mission, that is, from the point of view of international law, they also hit the territory of the Republic of China. Gabriel Escobar, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia and Special Envoy for the Western Balkans, pointed out that this date for the visit was chosen “unfortunately but on purpose,” and that the US considers the bombing of the Chinese embassy to be an “accident,” which is why Beijing received an apology and compensation. Belgrade has its place in sending political messages between Beijing and Washington, and this time it was seen better than ever before. That’s why Escobar angrily added that Xi Jinping’s visit was “timed to increase tensions between Serbia and the rest of the Western community” and that countries (Serbia and Hungary) that question the unity of the Euro-Atlantic community were chosen for the visit and called on partners to be aware of Chinese agenda in Europe.

Second, the harmonization of a new initiative with an unusual name is a matter of purely political character. It has absolutely nothing to do with free trade, investments, elephants and mice, Serbs in space… The statement on deepening and raising the strategic partnership and building the alliance between Serbia and China with a common future in the new era is an announcement of long-term harmonization of foreign policy principles and mutual support on international plan. Serbia needs a powerful ally in world politics and in international organizations, and it is psychologically important for China to have at least one European country among its reliable allies. French researcher Professor Jean-Pierre Cabestan points out that the story of the Common Future for Humanity is “a kind of comprehensive and difficult to dispute, but also meaningless formula whose only goal is to measure the willingness of partners to agree with China. It is a sign of symbolic and diplomatic alignment that is important to Beijing, but not so much to its partners. They often fall into the trap, not realizing that this is a way of promoting China’s power and influence that reinforces its symbolic and rhetorical power. It is also a strategy to legitimize the Chinese political system and erase the political or ideological differences between the Chinese dictatorship and other systems, such as democracy.” Logically, after such evaluations, new pressures on Serbia can be expected. Who knows, maybe Vučić will become a “pro-Chinese dictator” overnight. Although, those pressures were not lacking in the previous weeks either.

Because – thirdly – the visit of the Chinese president came at a time when Serbia was facing two very unpleasant threats. Under A, it is an attempt by key Western countries to push the so-called Republic of Kosovo into full membership of the Council of Europe. That work was even expected to be fully completed in May. Prishtina is on the doorstep of the Council of Europe, which for official Belgrade opens up many, many questions related to the relationship not only with the Council of Europe, but also with the EU. Under B are the already described events in the UN General Assembly regarding the reactualization of the crime in Srebrenica. Obviously, by deepening political cooperation with China, Aleksandar Vučić wanted to amortize these threats, which is important to him for both foreign and domestic politics. It is necessary to show that Serbia has allies. And not just any allies. Hence China’s vote against the proposed resolution and its active lobbying in favor of Serbia.

Finally, and fourthly, which concerns the reception of the Chinese president in Belgrade. Mocking, the reporter of the BBC Serbian newsroom wrote: “Like a couple in love, with sparkles in their eyes and flickering smiles on their faces, Aleksandar Vučić and Xi Jinping committed to a joint future during the visit of the Chinese head of state to Belgrade.” Perhaps to the journalists of the British media two presidents looked like a “couple in love,” that was their subjective impression, objectively – the Chinese president was really welcomed by the citizens of Serbia with wide open arms. Simply, you could feel it at every step in Belgrade. This is the perception of Serbian public opinion towards Xi Jinping and China in general. And that, viewed from the point of view of creating a discourse, has less to do with Vučić, and more to do with the decade-long relationship of the collective West towards Serbia. Today, Serbia is politically closer to China than to the EU. Although the country is a candidate for EU membership. Someone will state that it is absurd. But, before that, it should also be noted how absurd it is that the EU and its key members behave so negatively towards a country that is a candidate for admission! The EU, as part of the collective West, persistently punishes Serbia. Xi Jinping’s visit showed us exactly that. It exposed the political reality. To the extreme limits.