China and Serbia on Wednesday declared “ironclad friendship” and “common future” during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Belgrade, underscoring close political and economic ties between the two countries, which share a wariness of the United States. emphasized.
Mr. Xi arrived in Serbia late Tuesday. This day marks the 25th anniversary of an erroneous airstrike involving the U.S. Air Force during the 1999 Kosovo War that destroyed the Chinese embassy in the Serbian capital, Belgrade. Three Chinese journalists were killed in the strike.
Mr. Xi appeared briefly on Wednesday morning with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to a cheering crowd gathered in front of the Serbian Palace, some of whom told Serbian media that he had been bussed in from the ruling party. Some people said they had been raped. It was the former headquarters of the now defunct Yugoslav government, and currently houses Serbian government institutions.
“The solid friendship between China and Serbia has withstood the test of international storms and hardships,” Xi told Vucic during the meeting, according to a report by China's state news agency Xinhua. “It has deep historical foundations, solid political foundations, broad common interests, and a strong base in public opinion.”
Later, the two leaders signed an agreement expressing their intention to “deepen and improve the China-Serbia comprehensive strategic partnership” and “build a new era of a community with a shared destiny,” local media reported. Reported.
In contrast to Mr. Xi's last visit to East and Central Europe in 2016, when he faced noisy protests in the Czech Republic, Mr. They reportedly detained several protesters and mobilized state officials to support them. he.
Sara Markovic, a Belgrade film director, said in a telephone interview that she and her 63-year-old father Dejan, a practitioner of the Falun Gong spiritual movement banned in China, and fellow members of what the Chinese government calls an “evil cult.” He said five people were taken away. He was taken into custody ahead of Mr. Xi's visit. Markovic said six detainees and two family members who were detained at the same time despite having no links to Falun Gong were all released without charge shortly after Xi left Serbia on Wednesday evening. It is said that it was done.
Markovic's father is suspected of “endangering persons under international protection,” according to a police arrest warrant.
Markov said his father had no intention of protesting the Chinese leader's visit because “our government wants to please the Chinese people in every possible way,” and, referring to the Chinese Communist Party, ” He said he came to pick him up because he was “acting like that.” .
China regularly demands that foreign governments hosting Mr. Xi's visits remove not only protesters but also posters associated with affiliated groups such as Falun Gong and Shen Yun Dance Company. Although most European governments have refused, Serbia has gone out of its way to show what Vučić described on Wednesday as “respect and love” for the Chinese leader.
China is Serbia's largest foreign investor, and the closer economic ties build on ties forged through shared vigilance against Western and Soviet states before the collapse of Belgrade-based Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. It helps expand.
It marks the 25th anniversary of the NATO bombing and comes at a time when Mr. Xi's government is trying to stabilize relations with the United States and Western Europe. He was scheduled to visit the site of the bombed embassy. He visited Serbia in 2016, and it is a regular stop for Chinese officials visiting Belgrade. But he did not appear there until he left Belgrade on Wednesday night for his next destination, the Hungarian capital Budapest, Europe's only reliably pro-China capital.
A black tombstone-like marble monument commemorating the “martyrs” of China and Serbia has been erected on the site of the former embassy, which is now the Chinese Cultural Center, but he says he will not use it. 's decision suggests that they want to avoid rekindling the anti-American sentiment that existed at the time of the air raids. In 1999, tens of thousands of Chinese people staged angry protests around the US embassy in Beijing, with some throwing bottles and rocks.
Although he did not completely ignore bombing, he avoided anti-Western bombast.
“We must never forget this,” Xi said in a statement published by the Serbian newspaper Politika on Tuesday, recalling that “25 years ago today, NATO blatantly bombed the Chinese embassy.” He said the friendly relations between China and Serbia were “built on compatriots' blood” and “will remain in the common memory of the Chinese and Serbian peoples.”
Beijing's fundamental suspicions about Western intentions and NATO's role remain strong, and this surfaced in comments by Chinese officials and the media on the anniversary. But Mr. Xi restrained himself from the bitter anger expressed by China's foreign ministry in Beijing.
“The Chinese people will never forget this barbaric atrocity committed by NATO and will never accept such tragic history to be repeated,” ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters in Beijing on Tuesday. said.
Serbia, which still harbors deep resentment over the defeat of Christian Serbs to the Ottoman Turks in a battle in 1389, considers itself a righteous nation wronged by hostile outsiders. China shares the view that China is a powerful force.
Serbia and China are also bound by ties of mutual support for each other's territorial claims. China is against the breakaway island of Taiwan, and Serbia is against Kosovo (a former Serbian land that declared itself an independent state after a NATO bombing campaign).
Vučić, who served as Serbian information minister under President Slobodan Milosevic during the Kosovo war, said: “On the issue of China's integrity, that Taiwan is China, we have a clear position. In the same way, they support Serbian territory without any reservations.” on wednesday.
Xi said China “supports Serbia's efforts to maintain its territorial integrity regarding Kosovo.”
As a result of the Ukraine war, public opinion toward China has deteriorated dramatically in many parts of Europe, especially in the former communist countries of the East. But Serbia, which, like China, has close ties with Russia, is firmly pro-Beijing and still expects billions of dollars in investments from China.
But like almost all European countries, Serbia has a widening trade deficit with China, which Vučić said Wednesday would be helped by a new free trade agreement that would allow Serbia to export 95% of its goods duties. I hope it will shrink. free. Although Serbia has very little of the agricultural products China needs, Serbian farmers will benefit from a new deal with China for prunes, plums and blueberries, Vučić said.
Mr Vucic was one of only two European leaders to attend a rally in Beijing in October to celebrate Mr Xi's Belt and Road infrastructure plan, along with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Russian President Vladimir V. Putin and dozens of other foreign leaders also attended.
Belgrade is decorated with Chinese flags and signs paying tribute to “our beloved Chinese friends”. Crowds lined the streets to welcome the Chinese leader, and opposition politicians say the outpouring of affection was artificially engineered by authorities, telling street sweepers and other state employees to do their jobs. He claimed that he ordered them to skip the ceremony and support Mr. Xi.
Serbia's state television station even stopped broadcasting the Eurovision Song Contest, a hugely popular event watched by millions across Europe, to broadcast a welcoming ceremony for Mr Xi at Belgrade airport.
chris buckley I contributed a report from Taipei, Taiwan. Alisa Dogramadyeva Born in Belgrade, Serbia.