Vucic in China to buy weapons, meets with Xi and praises Putin

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić chose China over the Berlin process that gathered European and Western Balkan leaders. Vucic delivered a message from China by meeting President Xi Jinping and saying that the relationship with China is ironclad. He said their bilateral relations have withstood various tests and appreciated China’s support for Serbia when the country faced difficulties.

Vucic said he also met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in addition to Xi.

“I saw President Putin, we did not have a bilateral meeting, we spoke briefly, he had an important and long meeting with Xi,” the president of Serbia said in a statement to Serbian journalists in Beijing, where he continues to participate in the international forum economically and politically.

“I saw that Putin is bursting with confidence,” Vucic said, adding that he had seen the Russian president hold long talks with Chinese President Xi and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The Serbian president then mentioned that he himself had spoken with Orban about the next meeting of the European Council.

Vucic said he was also in China because of the arms purchase.

“We met with the understanding of our Chinese friends. We also talked about other things that are necessary for us in cooperation in all areas of economy, business and military-technical cooperation,” Vucic said, adding that Serbia currently has no one to get more modern and advanced weapons than from China.

He said there has also been talk about infrastructural connectivity and the increase in the number of Chinese investments.

Vucic reiterated that the free trade agreement signed in Beijing could come into force next June and said President Xi Jinping “supports an independent, freedom-loving and self-reliant Serbia.”

Serbia’s army relies on Chinese arms suppliers amid tensions with Kosovo.

Serbia and China also recently announced a second round of joint police patrols in cities in the Balkan state, a move seen as provocative by some European politicians. Such patrols were launched in 2019 with the stated aim of protecting Chinese tourists.

“Taking such a step at a time of high tensions and importing Chinese weapons while threatening Serbia’s neighbor Kosovo with military aggression sends a clear but very unfortunate signal of where the Serbian leader sees his allegiance [President Aleksandar] Vucic: not with Europe, but with authoritarian regimes,” said Reinhard Bütikofer, head of the European Parliament’s delegation for EU-China relations.

Bütikofer has called for a European moratorium on arms sales to Serbia.

In early October, the Serbian army had sent some of its troops back from the border after the White House warned of a “highly destabilizing” situation, while calls for tougher action against Serbia grew louder among EU politicians./The Geopost/