China Has Its Eyes on Serbia

Beijing is using the coronavirus pandemic to expand its influence into the EU’s backyard.

On March 21, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic showed up at the Belgrade airport to welcome the Airbus A330 from China, carrying the largest shipment of medical aid Serbia has received in its effort to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The shipment contained medical devices, security equipment, and Chinese medical experts. At the airport, Vucic thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Communist Party of China, and the Chinese people: “We should thank them with all our hearts, they have proven to be great friends of Serbia and Serbs. … I am waiting for Xi to visit Serbia and hundreds of thousands of people will welcome him.” With that, China notched a significant soft power and public diplomacy victory in Serbia. But it didn’t happen in a vacuum; China moved to fill an opening left by the European Union, which has shown a lack of interest in Serbia in recent years.

The arrival of Chinese assistance in Belgrade occurred a few days after a press conference in which Vucic declared a national state of emergency in order to combat the coronavirus, of which there are nearly 2,500 confirmed cases in Serbia. During his address, Vucic put strong emphasis on the importance of Chinese aid to Serbia and praised both Xi and China. Vucic said that he sent a letter to Xi in which he addressed his Chinese counterpart “not only as a dear friend, but as a brother. Not just my personal, but a friend and brother of this country.” He continued, “I believe in my friend and my brother, Xi Jinping, and I believe in Chinese help. The only country that can help us is China.”

Chinese officials were quick to respond to this show of gratitude. The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement: “Supporting each other in times of adversity has always been the defining feature of China-Serbia relations. We will never forget the staunch support the Serbian government and people lent to us in our all-out fight against COVID-19. Now as the Serbian people are also facing the challenge of the pandemic, we will stand firm and fight side by side with them.” Xi followed up with a response to Vucic pledging further Chinese aid while invoking the “the iron-clad friendship” between the two countries, the Chinese state press agency Xinhua wrote.The impetus for China’s assistance to Serbia was the EU’s initial unwillingness to offer any meaningful support to the country.

Vuk Vuksanovic is a senior researcher at the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy and an associate of LSE IDEAS, a foreign-policy think tank at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

  Twitter: @v_vuksanovic