Chinese citizens on the Western Balkans human smuggling route

Summary

A group of Chinese citizens attempted to cross the border between Serbia and Croatia illegally; one of them died

Two such cases of illegal border crossings have been recorded in the last two months

Some European countries are warning of an increased influx of Chinese citizens arriving via human smuggling routes in the Western Balkans

Serbia and China have had a visa-free regime since 2017

A Chinese citizen died when a boat capsized on the Danube between Serbia and Croatia while attempting to cross the border illegally.

The boat, which capsized in northwestern Serbia, was carrying at least ten people, including Chinese citizens.

In the last two months, there have been two recorded cases of groups of Chinese citizens attempting to cross the border between Serbia and Croatia illegally.

Miroslava Jelačić Kojić from the non-governmental organization Group 484 told RFE/RL that there are trends indicating that Chinese citizens are increasingly becoming victims of human trafficking in the Western Balkans.

However, as he points out, it cannot be said with certainty that this is the predominant method of operation, but it is something that is occasionally observed in the region.

“Italian authorities have warned that there has been an increase in the number of Chinese citizens who have been smuggled and that they have also been moving along the Western Balkan route,” she said.

The Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs did not respond to RFE/RL’s inquiry as to whether this is a trend or isolated cases. The Croatian Ministry of Internal Affairs also did not respond to this inquiry.

Serbia and China have had a visa-free regime since 2017, which means that citizens of both countries can reside or transit through the territory of China and Serbia for up to 30 days from the date of entry.

As a candidate for European Union membership, Serbia maintains close ties with China and is strengthening political, economic, and military cooperation.

What is known so far?

The competent prosecutor’s office in Novi Sad has defined the incident as a criminal offense of illegal crossing of the state border and human smuggling.

This institution did not respond to additional questions from RFE/RL before the publication of the article.

On October 6, the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that rescue services had found the body of a Chinese citizen.

Serbian rescue services found four injured Chinese citizens, while Croatian rescue services pulled five more Chinese citizens from the Danube.

Dragoslav Živković, acting deputy chief of the Vukovar-Srijem police administration, told the media on October 6 that, according to initial information, the individuals had attempted to cross the state border from Serbia to Croatia illegally.

According to unofficial information from HRT, the boat capsized due to overloading, with ten Chinese and one Serbian citizen on board. The Chinese Embassy in Belgrade also did not respond to RFE/RL’s inquiry.

This incident was preceded by an incident on August 1 at the Bezdan border crossing between Serbia and Croatia near Sombor. At that time, 12 Chinese citizens were found in the trailer of a truck that was attempting to illegally cross the border into Croatia. The case is currently being investigated by the higher public prosecutor’s office in Sombor, a town in northwestern Serbia.

The prosecutor’s office told RFE/RL that it is conducting an investigation against suspect B.I. from Obrenovac near Belgrade for the criminal offense of illegally crossing the state border and smuggling people.

In their response, they add that the final destination of the Chinese citizens has not yet been determined, nor has the organizer of this illegal transport across the state border.

Where is the aforementioned Western Balkan route?

In May 2024, the Italian Ministry of the Interior announced that it had discovered a significant, continuous flow of illegal Chinese citizens who were being transported in small groups by plane to the external borders of Europe, mainly Serbia, where they entered without visas.

They were then transported by car through Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Slovenia to the Italian border.

At that time, the Trieste border police arrested a Chinese citizen after intercepting him while he was transporting four illegal Chinese citizens who had entered the country from Slovenia.

The Western Balkan corridor is also mentioned in a January statement by Europol, the EU police agency, when it announced the dismantling of a sophisticated Chinese criminal network.

The network was involved in illegal immigration and human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

Raids in Barcelona, Madrid, and Toledo in Spain, and in Zagreb in Croatia, led to the arrest of 30 people, including the leaders of the criminal network.

The statement said that the smuggling group used the Western Balkan corridor and collaborated with local intermediaries and drivers to illegally transport victims into the EU.

Visa-free travel as a risk?

Miroslava Jelačić Kojić from Group 484 says that there is currently no official report addressing the growing trend of Chinese citizens crossing smuggling routes through Serbia.

When asked how often police reports in Serbia mention Chinese citizens as illegal migrants, she states that the latest report by the Serbian Ministry of the Interior on human smuggling is SOCTA from 2023.

“There is no prevailing trend, nor are Chinese nationals mentioned as a predominant group. There are more migrants coming from Afghanistan, Syria, and Bangladesh,” she added.

Given that every visa-free regime carries a certain risk, she recalls the abuse of the visa-free regime with Burundi, Cuba, and some third countries.

“If clear indicators come from European countries that the number of Chinese citizens arriving via Serbia is increasing, this will be a clear sign that controls on the movement and residence of Chinese citizens in Serbia need to be tightened,” she added.

As she explains, this applies not only to those residing in Serbia under the visa-free regime, but also to those residing on other legal grounds, such as temporary or permanent residence.

Since 2022, Serbia has abolished the visa-free regime for Tunisia, Burundi, Guinea-Bissau, India, Oman, Mongolia, Qatar, and Kuwait in accordance with EU visa policy./RSE/