The reason for the Chinese President’s visit to Belgrade is much deeper: Xi Jinping will invite Serbia to join BRICS

Chinese President Xi Jinping will pay a two-day official visit to Serbia next week, Belgrade and Beijing have announced.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic will host Chinese President Xi Jinping on 7 and 8 May, Vucic’s office said.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Xi Jinping would visit France, Serbia and Hungary from 5 to 10 May.

In an address to citizens (29 April) after his return from New York, Vucic said, among other things, that there were several topics for discussion with the Chinese President.

“It is an honour for me to host the Chinese President, to raise a number of topics, and from our side we will launch projects for accelerated technological development, from robotics, satellites, flying cars and much more.”

Serbia respects the BRICS, Vucic said, but will stay on the European track to “annoy” them.

“We continue to anger them because our choice is the European path, even though we don’t know when Serbia might become an EU member”, said Vučić.

Citing information from France, Russian media report that Xi Jinping’s visit to Belgrade is aimed at inviting Serbia to the BRICS, which, if realised, “will lead to huge geopolitical changes in Europe”.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping plans to visit Serbia in connection with the 25th anniversary of the US attack on the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, writes Russia’s Pravda.

“But the reason for the visit is much deeper.”

According to France Intelligence online, quoted by Pravda, Xi will hold talks with Vucic on Serbia’s entry into the BRICS.

“Serbia’s possible accession to BRICS could allow the Chinese president to return to the bloc’s original expansion plan, which focused on Europe rather than the Middle East,” the French site writes.

“Vucic is seriously considering abandoning his plans to join the European Union and instead joining the BRICS group, which would be a major geopolitical reversal”, writes the French website, citing information from China.

“It is a fair observation, given that Serbia’s path to the EU is linked to the recognition of Kosovo’s independence, and that is a phrase for every Serbian politician. In the meantime, the world is changing and Serbs could live better together with the BRICS”, it said.

From 2018 to 2022, trade between China and Serbia increased by 2.7 times, while Serbian exports to China increased by 12.7 times.

With the help and support of Chinese companies, major infrastructure projects have been or are being implemented in Serbia, including the Belgrade-Budapest-Solun high-speed railway, which will give Serbia the access to the sea it wants, writes Russia’s Pravda daily.

The Chinese are ambitious to first engage in major energy and mining projects in Serbia in partnership with Russia.

“If Serbia opts for BRICS, other European leaders could follow suit. For example, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán believes that the EU in its current form is not sustainable. Orbán will discuss this with Xi Jinping” (the Chinese President will visit Hungary after Serbia).

On 29 March, Russia’s TASS reported that the previous evening, during his second address, Aleksandar Vucic had promised to explore the possibility of attending the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, in October.

“When will the BRICS Summit take place? In October?” asked Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, who attended Vucic’s televised address to the nation.

Dacic noted that the Serbian President was invited as a special guest. “Thank you for the invitation. We will consider it in due course”, Vucic said at the time.

Russia holds the BRICS presidency in 2024. The presidency programme includes more than 200 different events, the centrepiece of which is the BRICS Leaders’ Summit in Kazan in October./The Geopost/