Communists from China on Dodik's 'field'

Turning to the East, economic interests and attempts to convince the Chinese to buy the bonds of Republika Srpska (RS).

Because of this, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), the largest political party in the RS, one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is getting even closer to the Communist Party of China (CPK), according to analysts interviewed by Radio Free Europe (RSE).

Representatives of the SNSD, the party headed by Milorad Dodik, who is also the president of the RS, and the KPK met in East Sarajevo on April 24.

The SNSD delegation was led by Staša Košarac, Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a member of the party's Presidency, while the Chinese delegation was headed by Kian Hongšan, Deputy Minister of the International Department of the Central Committee of the KPK.

As reported by SNSD after the meeting, their delegation expressed gratitude to China for "respecting international law" regarding the high representative, and it was said that SNSD respects the principle of "one China" and non-interference in their internal affairs.

China, like Russia, does not recognize the legitimacy of the high representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Christian Schmidt, and claim that he was not elected to the United Nations Security Council in accordance with the procedures.

The Chinese delegation spent several days in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and on April 25 they participated in a conference in Sarajevo called "Modernization with Chinese characteristics", which was organized by the "Bosnian-Chinese Friendship" association.

What was discussed at the meeting?
Košarac conveyed to the Chinese, as stated in the announcement, Dodik's greetings and desire "to continue cooperation and strengthen friendly ties with the People's Republic of China."

There were talks about projects in the field of transport and energy, in which the Chinese are present in Bosnia and Herzegovina, mostly in the RS, and the two parties agreed to continue consultations on an annual basis.
At the meeting in East Sarajevo, in addition to Košarac, there was also Sanja Vulić, a member of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament, as well as local officials from SNSD.
Boško Jugović, the mayor of the municipality of Pale, which is part of the city of East Sarajevo, and a member of the SNSD Presidency, who was at the meeting, told RSE that it was an introduction to deeper cooperation.

"First of all, cultural cooperation, sports cooperation, cooperation in the field of trade, tourism and, of course, what is most important - economic and financial assistance, the participation of certain companies in our region," said Jugović.
He stated that the cooperation was "shy" in the beginning, but it strengthens over time, which, Jugović believes, is necessary, because China is on an upward trajectory.
"We are too small to be able to influence the development of any world policies and events, but at this moment we are looking for friends and partners who can help us in commercial, economic, financial and any other sense," said Jugović.
He pointed out that the exchange of students is also possible, because the Chinese language is studied at the University of East Sarajevo.
The two parties signed a cooperation agreement in 2016, and the SNSD sent its delegation to the Chinese Communist Conference in Beijing in 2017.

Support for bonds and loans
Analysts claim that the cooperation between the two parties has little to do with politics, but with the establishment of stronger economic ties, especially after the recent visit to China by the SNSD Prime Minister of the RS, Radovan Višković.
Višković was on an official visit to China at the beginning of April, and the Entity Government announced that he negotiated with the representatives of three financial funds there and that they will come to Banjaluka to continue the negotiations.
Milorad Dodik said at the end of March that China could accept RS bonds as financial guarantee instruments.

In 2023, the RS is facing major financial challenges, as more than 500 million euros in debt is due.

Adnan Huskić, a political analyst from Sarajevo, says for RSE that the meeting between the two parties is another step closer to China, and that the goal is the inflow of the necessary money into the RS budget.
"I think the primary goal in all of this is to try to get support for the purchase of securities that will have to finance some 300 million rupiah in the budget for this year, which, I believe, is being tried to agree with the Chinese authorities," Huskić believes.
Velizar Antić, a political scientist from Banja Luka, thinks similarly.
He points out for RSE that the rulers in the RS "were not overly happy and satisfied" after the return of Višković from China, and that they did not go public with the details of what was agreed upon.
Antić assesses that the authorities in the RS are not careful enough when negotiating loans with the Chinese.
"I think that they can get a loan from China and from anyone, but the question is under what conditions these loans will be repaid and what the RS has to pledge in order to return these loans, that is, if it cannot repay them, what can be considered if the Chinese simply take it from us," Antic wonders.

From right to left
Antić points out that the SNSD is a party that "we can't capture either by the head or the tail" and that he, as a political scientist, would not be able to define them and their ideological position.
"In the beginning, they started as a social democratic party, then they went all the way to the right wing as a radical right-wing political party, and now we see that they are returning to the extreme left and are trying to establish contact with the Communist Party of China," says Antic.

According to him, SNSD is now an organization of interest that will cooperate with anyone "who offers them money".
He adds that lately that party has made a big turn away from the West and is turning to the East, that is, to Russia and China.

"It can be expected that the authorities in the RS, led by Dodik and the SNSD, will adopt a position of closer cooperation with China," Antić believes.

Huskić says that China has no need for an aggressive approach in BiH, because their interests in the country are clear.

"The Chinese are focusing on infrastructural projects, they are trying to place their funds through loans from their banks, which are given for such extensive infrastructural works," Huskić pointed out.
He assesses that relations between China and Bosnia and Herzegovina have cooled to a certain extent after Bisera Turković, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, decided that Bosnia and Herzegovina should join the resolution condemning the treatment of Uyghurs in China.
Her move caused a negative reaction from that country, ultimately, and the absence of Chinese support in the UN Security Council when appointing a new high representative.
Huskić clarifies that Dodik "capitalized" on that, when he asserted that Turković acted unilaterally, which was interpreted in Beijing as an extended hand for cooperation.

Communist Party of China and parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Apart from the SNSD, other parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina have ties with the Chinese communists.
The Party of Democratic Action (SDA), the strongest party in the BiH Parliament, has been cooperating with the KPK for about 20 years, as Halid Genjac, the party's general secretary, told RSE earlier.
Dragan Čović, president of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the leading party of Bosnia and Herzegovina. of Croats, also met with the KPK delegation.
At the online summit held in July 2021 on the occasion of the centenary of the founding of the KPK, more than 500 political organizations from all over the world, including those from Bosnia and Herzegovina, were present.
Representatives of SNSD, SDA, HDZ of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as representatives of United Srpska, the ruling coalition party in the RS, participated.