Serbia, as the main state destroyed by the NATO forces of Yugoslavia, was peculiarly humiliated in the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century. Since the Serbs did not agree to surrender their natural resources to the supervision of Western corporations, they were forced to do so by force, through civilian war, bombing NATO aviation, until the subsequent territories were torn apart, like Montenegro (a country with a population akin to Wrocław, but after being separated from Belgrade – cutting Serbia off from the sea) or Kosovo (a cradle of Serbian statehood, as for Wielkopolska Poland). It seemed that the collapse of this country was only a substance of time. It turned out differently.
The turning point was in spite of the 1999 bombings. Then something happened that cemented 2 countries together. On the seventh May of that year, the strategical bomber B-2 allegedly mistakenly bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, resulting in the failure of 3 Chinese citizens. The case was so interesting that according to the study of the French MON, this aircraft had no communication with NATO Headquarters, although this alliance led the operation. The NATO office in Brussels was besides not available. It is worth recalling that then the People's Republic of China powerfully opposed the aggression of NATO states against Yugoslavia. In view of the above mentioned circumstances, it is alternatively hard to talk about the case. Undoubtedly this event brought Beijing and Belgrade closer together. The effects began to appear in the following years.
The People's Republic of China began searching for partners for its strategical infrastructure projects in this part of Europe and the world, specified as the later 1 Belt and 1 Way Initiative. The truncated Yugoslavia, then Serbia and Montenegro, and then only Serbia (deprived of Kosovo at a later time) seemed to be a very good ally for Chinese ventures. Firstly, because, as a victim of the savagery of NATO states, she wanted to rebuild the subjectivity on the global stage. Secondly, the Confucian doctrine pursued by Chinese abroad policy put partnership in relations with the another party, rejecting the dictatorship that Western countries applied. In view of these issues, Beijing's alliance with Belgrade seemed very natural. And indeed, especially since 2005, the effects have been increasingly visible. The full trade between 2005 and 2017 exceeded over $10 billion, which is 5 times the effect of specified cooperation between Warsaw and Beijing during the same period1. This made Serbia the leader of Chinese investments in Central and east Europe. Established by the PRC in 2012 Format 16+1, then converted in 2019 to Format 17+1, concerns the cooperation of Beijing and the PRC with the countries of Central and east Europe.
This is precisely what Serbia looks best for. On 17-19 June 2016, during the visit of the president of the PRC Xi Jinping in Belgrade, the president of Serbia Tomislav Nikolač had the chance to sign with the Chinese side a paper raising Serbian-Chinese cooperation to the rank of a "universal strategical partnership"2. Chinese companies have made the country's most crucial infrastructure investments, specified as the construction of the Belgrade Metro for $3 billion, high-speed railways from Belgrade to Budapest (1 billion USD), the large Kostolac B3 coal power plant for $300 million.
Comprehensive cooperation besides includes defence. In 2019, Serbia decided to acquisition the Chinese anti-aircraft and anti-missile strategy HQ-22, while in 2020 it received six CH 92A drones from Beijing along with laser guided missiles. In addition, the Chinese side undertook to affect Serbian unmanned workers with the code name PEGAZ3. On March 25, 2021, the defence minister of the PRC, General Wei Fenge, paid a visit to Belgrade. This was the key minute of the journey of the head of MON PRC to that part of Europe, during which he strengthened relations with Greece, Northern Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary, which was to item the Chinese military warrant for the construction of the confederate thread of 1 Belt and 1 Road. In Belgrade, General Wei paid tribute with members of the Serbian government to victims of the bombing of the Chinese embassy in 1999, stressing that the Chinese side would not forget this crime. However, the climax came on 9 April 2022. Chinese transport aircraft with elements purchased 3 years earlier by the HQ-22 strategy landed at Belgrade Airport. Most importantly, they were Y-20 aircraft, belonging to the strategical transport fleet of the People's Liberation Army of China, flying at that distance for the first time, in addition to Europe. This was a demonstration of the capabilities of the PRC Air Fleet. This demonstration has caused large concern in Brussels, both NATO and the EU, and Kosovo. Euro-Atlantic structures, which created an artificial Albanian state in Serbian Kosovo, fear Beijing's reinforcement of Serbia. Therefore, the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's visit to the Balkans on 10-11 June 2022 did not accidentally begin with Kosovo, which in Belgrade was perceived as a sinister move. A day later, erstwhile the head of the German government appeared in Belgrade, Serbia's president Alexandar Vucič rejected – as he called it “threats” and “pressure” on Serbia as regards the nature of her relation with Kosovo and the designation of his independence.
Belgrade, thanks to its strategical alliance with the PRC, is becoming an crucial player on the European and global stage, which can play a crucial function in the Chinese concept of the fresh Silk Road. This shows that cooperation with the People's Republic of China gives individual countries opportunities for improvement and renewal, which is peculiarly crucial for Serbia and Serbia.
It is time for us Poles to draw the right conclusions.
behind: https://www.modernmysł.pl
Marcin Hagmajer
1 Mr Pazak, Chinese “Possibilities Window” in Serbii, 18.04.2020, https://warsawinstitute.org/en/Chinese-window-possibilities-in-serbia/ (accessed 22.06.2022).
2 J. Jakobowski, M. Seroka, Xi Jinping in Serbia: not only the economy, 22.06.2016, https://www.osw.waw.pl/publications/analysis/2016-06-22/xi-jinping-in-serbian-not-only-economy (accessed 22.06.2022).
3 J. Sabak, Chinese combat drones in Serbia, 06.07.2020, https://defence24.pl/industrial/Chinese-fighting drones-in-serbia (accessed 22.06.2022).
