Raseta: Focus of President Xi's European tour is thawing of relations with the EU and strengthening of cooperation with Serbia

Dragoslav Raseta from the organization New Third Way assesses that the key goal of Chinese President Xi Jinping's European tour is to improve the cooled relations between the EU and China in talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, and that alongside the economy, the key topics of discussion with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic will be the Kosovo issue and the Srebrenica resolution.

"This is President Xi's first visit to Europe in the last five years, and he will certainly seek to improve relations that have drifted apart over the past few years between our continent and China. The political backdrop for Serbia will certainly be the situation in the UN, the Srebrenica Resolution, and generally the Kosovo question, but I think that economic issues will dominate primarily because there is still a month until the ratification of the Free Trade Agreement between Serbia and China. That will be the main topic of Xi's visit to Serbia," Raseta tells Kosovo Online.

According to him, the fact that the Chinese president has chosen Serbia as one of the countries to visit speaks to the importance that this country has for Chinese investments and Chinese influence in Europe.

"By visiting Serbia, a message is sent that China is thinking about Serbia and that these relations have been deepening since 2009, especially since 2014 with more investments. Cooperation and trade exchange are increasing, and from that perspective, this visit has been planned for a longer period; it was supposed to happen last winter, but there is also a political moment concerning the Serbian authorities entering elections with the support of such an important ally as China," Raseta believes.

He adds that the Chinese president deliberately chose to visit Serbia on the 25th anniversary of the NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade to send a clear message that this event has not been forgotten and that relations between the West and China are still unfavorable.

"The choice of Serbia speaks to the importance that Serbia has for Chinese investments and Chinese influence in Europe. On the other hand, the list of friends that China currently has in the rest of Europe has decreased, especially in Western Europe, after diverging relations with Germany. However, we also have to consider the timing of the visit because it was set on an anniversary, 25 years since the NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, and I think that also played a very important role for Xi to show his audience at home that he hasn't forgotten about it and that relations between the West and China are still very unfavorable," Raseta concluded.