Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has deepened ties with China during a trip to Beijing.
Vučić’s trip to China comes after Xi received a run of high-profile visitors, among them U.S President Donald Trump followed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
After a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the two leaders witnessed the signing of more than 20 cooperation agreements, covering areas such as politics, trade, technology and education.
According to Chinese state broadcaster, Xi told Vucic during their talks, that their countries should strengthen exchanges and cooperation to push their comprehensive strategic partnership to new heights.
“China supports Serbia in persisting on a development path that suits its own national conditions, and is willing to strengthen exchanges of governance experience with Serbia.”
Xi Jinping
Xi also said both sides should expand cooperation in artificial intelligence, digital economy and green energy to develop new growth drivers. He stressed that China and Serbia should better align development strategies, implement the mid-term action plan for Belt and Road cooperation and advance cooperation in transport and energy infrastructure among others.
Xi also called on both countries to leverage visa exemption policies, the free trade agreement and direct flights to expand all-round cooperation in culture, education, sports, tourism and sub-national exchanges.
On his part, Vučić said that Serbia attaches great importance to developing relations with China and steadfastly supports China’s core interests. Xi awarded him a “friendship medal.”
In a joint statement released by Chinese official news agency, both sides said that countries must not politicize human rights issues, the two nations would promote sovereign equality, practice multilateralism and observe international rule of law.
Serbia is formally seeking European Union entry, but it has fostered ties with Russia and China.
Arriving in Beijing, Vučić complained that the EU is trying to “dictate” Serbian diplomatic policy by demanding he refrain from direct talks with the Kremlin.
“It would be best if they just made me a wish list of who I am allowed to talk to and who I am not. Then what do we need a President for? What do we need a government for?
“Serbia is an autonomous, sovereign, independent state and will continue to act in accordance with its interests.”
Aleksandar Vučić
In Vučić’s opinion piece published by the South China Morning Post newspaper on Sunday, he said that discussions about China in Europe are “too often clouded by suspicion and strategic anxiety.” “I understand that every major political community must guard its future, but I believe Europe should approach China not with fear and suspicion but with confidence and a serious, open-eyed willingness to cooperate,” he wrote.
Xi made a visit of his own to Serbia in 2024, celebrating the two countries’ free trade agreement. China is Serbia’s largest foreign investor, and the deal saw China agree to slash tariffs on almost all Serbian imports over the next decade.
Vučić Faces Pressure At Home
Vučić’s visit comes as he faces pressure at home from anti-government protests in his Balkan country, including a major rally that prompted clashes over the weekend. Clashes erupted between groups of protesters and riot police after Saturday’s huge anti-government rally by tens of thousands of his opponents in the Serbian capital of Belgrade.
Vučić has sought to curb mass demonstrations that have shaken his hard-line rule in the Balkan country. However, big crowds on Saturday suggested the dissent persists more than a year after protests first started to demand accountability for a deadly collapse at a train station in November 2024.
The tragedy became a flashpoint for broader dissatisfaction with Serbia’s rule and has led to growing public demands for transparency in the graft-plagued country, which has carried out a quick series of large infrastructure projects, mostly with Chinese companies.
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