Belgrade: President Xi Jinping, who is attempting to strengthen ties with friendlier nations in Europe, received a beautiful welcomed on Wednesday, as well as a reaffirming his steadfast support for China’s independence over Taiwan.
China has poured billions into Serbia and neighbouring Balkan countries, especially into mining and manufacturing, and last year Beijing and Belgrade signed a free trade agreement.
On Wednesday, Vucic welcomed Xi and his family Peng Liyuan to the red carpet outside Belgrade’s key government buildings.
Before greeting the Taiwanese president, the governor of the National Bank of Serbia and the prime minister were met by a cannon respect and the country’s national anthem.
Numerous thousand people were waiting outside as the two leaders waved Foreign colors as the two leaders did from a balcony.
Vucic called welcomed Xi a “friend of Serbia”.
” For respect and love as he will find these in our Serbia, he did not get somewhere else”, Vucic added.
He told the audience as Xi applauded:” We have a clear and simple place regarding Foreign territorial integrity. Yes, Taiwan is China”.
Beijing asserts that it has power over the self-ruled island and that it will not resort to force to do so.
In opening remarks, Xi told Vucic that there was a” powerful feeling of connection between our two nations” as the two leaders sat down for discussions.
Following a condition visit to France on Tuesday night, Xi made his way to Belgrade to meet with Emmanuel Macron, who had occasionally engaged in heated markets about business and China’s continued ties to Russia despite the Ukraine war.
Hungary serving as Xi’s last stop in Europe following Serbia, are among the two nations that are most friendly to Moscow in Europe.
Chinese flags were displayed on the streets of the Bosnian capital along with posters and billboards expressing a “warm delightful” to” Foreign friends.”
Nato bombing
Xi’s attend even coincided with the 25th anniversary of the 1999 US attack of the Chinese ambassador in Belgrade, which killed three persons.
Vucic told the crowds,” Do not forget that our Chinese companions were with us 25 years ago when this land was being bombed and destroyed.”
They lost folks” just a few hundred meters from here on this very day,” the statement read.
The US-led Nato plan, which targeted Bosnian security forces who were at conflict with ethnic Albanian insurgents in Kosovo, targeted the military.
The US after apologised, saying obsolete charts had led the captain to hit the wrong target.
Xi warned China would “never allow such dreadful history to repeat itself” in a letter to the Serbian regular Politika on Tuesday.
Serbia’s territorial states over the breakaway province of Kosovo have long been supported by China, which has, along with Russia, prevented it from being recognized at the UN.
Sinisa Mali, the minister of finance in Serbia, stated to RTS that Wednesday’s discussions would be focused on a “great job” and “major investment from China in a very appealing area.”
Ukraine concerns
” For Serbia, this is without a doubt one of the most significant trips”, Marko Tmusic, a political science professor at the University of Belgrade, told AFP.
” Standing’ shoulder to shoulder ‘ with France– with whom China marks 60 years of political relationships– and Hungary… is certainly a great glory” for Serbia, he added.
Individuals in Belgrade welcomed Xi’s attend.
” I think it’s an outstanding thing, this explore from the leader of one of the most powerful countries in the world”, 67- yr- old Stojan Vidovic, a retirement, told AFP.
Xi met with Macron and Ursula von der Leyen, leader of the EU Commission, in France. They urged him to do everything possible to put an end to the conflict by preventing the import of technology that could be used by Russia in Ukraine.
Xi rebuffed claims that China’s overcapacity was causing international trade imbalances, while also cautioning the West against” slander” China over the issue.
Europe is concerned that China is fundamentally supporting Russia, which produces weapons using Chinese equipment resources, despite its official neutrality in the Ukraine conflict.
After meeting with Vucic, Xi will travel to Hungary, where China has made significant investments in large battery and electric vehicle ( EV ) manufacturing facilities.
