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Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has taken a defiant tone on a visit to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, complaining of supposed European efforts to prevent him nurturing ties to his country’s leading international investor.
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Arriving in Beijing, Vučić complained that the EU is trying to “dictate” Serbian diplomatic policy by demanding he refrain from direct talks with the Kremlin.
“It would be best if they just made me a wish list of who I am allowed to talk to and who I am not,” he said at a press conference. “Then what do we need a president for? What do we need a government for?”
“Serbia is an autonomous, sovereign, independent state and will continue to act in accordance with its interests.”
Xi made a visit of his own to Serbia in 2024, celebrating the two countries’ free trade agreement. China is Serbia’s largest foreign investor, and the deal saw China agree to slash tariffs on almost all Serbian imports over the next decade.
Serbia has been a candidate for EU membership since 2009, but the Vučić government’s ties to Beijing are a major bone of contention in its accession process, with Brussels concerned about admitting a new member state more deeply entwined with China than any other EU government.
The 2024 free trade deal came just as the EU was attempting to put more pressure on the import of Chinese electric vehicles in order to protect the bloc’s domestic market, an effort that has only ramped up in the ensuing two years.
Xi takes centre stage
Vučić’s trip to China comes after Xi received a run of high-profile visitors, among them US President Donald Trump followed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Xi’s talks with Trump were aimed at easing trade tensions that have run high since the start of the latter’s second term in the White House.
A breakthrough of sorts was announced after the visit in the form of a trade council to facilitate “a framework arrangement for reciprocal tariff reductions on products of equivalent scale” – potentially lowering or eliminating tariffs on products worth around $30 billion.
Putin’s visit, meanwhile, saw him and Xi sign a joint statement on increased military cooperation, a blow to any European hopes of persuading China to reduce its support for the Kremlin in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Xi greeted Putin as a “dear friend”, and the agreement the two men signed celebrated their countries’ “unyielding” bond and promised continued “good-neighbourliness and friendly cooperation”.
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