#Serbia
China’s Aid in the Western Balkans: Supporting Development, Undermining Good Governance
In a brand new CHOICE paper, China’s development assistance to all the countries that make up the Western Balkans is put under the microscope. The new study by Ana Krstinovska analyzes the Chinese economic…
In Serbia, Private Interest Becomes National Interest
Protests in Serbia are provoking rarely seen responses from the government in Belgrade. Faced with widespread unrest and demonstrations in the streets, the Serbian government recently withdrew Draft Amendments to the Law on Expropriation. This marked only…
Expert Roundtable: The Impacts of China-Funded Projects in the Western Balkans
The EU future for the countries in Western Balkans has recently been challenged. This ambiguity has offered an opening to non-European actors eager to exert influence and exploit openings in the region, including China.…
Major Chinese Investment in Serbia Mired By Worker Abuse Controversy
Vietnamese workers employed by the Chinese firm Linglong Tire in Serbia were living in conditions that have understandably shocked onlookers. Accommodated in old, rusty barracks, not outfitted for a chilly Balkan winter, the employees…
China’s Economic Influence Impacts Governance and Climate Policy in CEE
Long-lingering concerns about Chinese influence at the EU’s doorstep have recently become a harsh reality. Montenegro has become a symbol of the debt problems developing countries can fall into by signing on to a…
China’s ‘Digital Silk Road’ Enters the Western Balkans
The Digital Silk Road (DSR), an important component of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), is an increasingly scrutinized aspect of China’s foreign policy toolbox that combines the efforts of the Chinese government and…
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fishy Promises
CEE-China cooperation could be quite different after Lithuania’s withdrawal from the 17+1 platform. As Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz and his crew of demolition spaceships were nearing Earth to make space for a galactic bypass, the…
Serbia Turns Multi-Vector Foreign Policy into Development Model… With China’s Help
Few people following international affairs will have missed the now infamous photo of the Serbian President, Alexander Vucic, kissing the Chinese flag at Belgrade Airport a year ago. In the global scramble for protective…
Big Brother: Serbia’s Media Are Creating Nation of China Lovers
This story was originally published by BIRN’s English language website Balkan Insight. Close connections with the Serbian political elite and the favourable presentation of China in Serbian media, especially from outlets close to the…
Chinese Vaccine Diplomacy Reigns Supreme in Serbia
This article was originally published in The Diplomat and is republished here with the permission of the author. When a plane carrying a million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from the Chinese company Sinopharm landed…
Serbia’s Balancing Act on China
In early September, the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić sat next to his US counterpart Donald Trump and Kosovo’s Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti in the Oval Office to announce the restoration of economic ties…
China, Pandemic and the Western Balkans – Lessons for the EU?
When announcing the state of emergency in Serbia on March 15 in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić declared the notion of European solidarity non-existent, “a fairy tale on a paper”,…