22.09.2022.

The Balkans are a "springboard" for China, the strongest influence visible in Serbia

Economic underdevelopment and reduced democratic capacities, as well as the reserved and insufficient presence of the European Union and the United States of America, have enabled China to position itself as an important factor in the Western Balkans, it was said at the presentation of the Digital Forensic Center (DFC) study on Chinese influence in the region.
 
The analysis states that the Balkans represent a springboard and a bridge for China to establish a more significant economic presence in Europe, Radio Free Europe reports.
 
It is emphasized that the strongest influence of China is visible in Serbia, and that Montenegro is one of the eight "most threatened" countries by the Chinese presence.
 
China started strongly investing in North Macedonia, but failed to maintain a significant influence, while in Bosnia and Herzegovina, that is, the Republika Srpska, there is a large number of Chinese investments in infrastructure.
 
According to the study, the only country in the region that records a decline in Chinese investments is Albania.
 
Milica Pejanović Đurišić from the Atlantic Alliance said that China, by trying to reshape the current world order, has the ambition to become a leading global power, which is a challenge for the United States of America and the European Union.
 
The foundations of Chinese action, especially in the Balkans, are present through the global "Belt and Road" initiative as well as the "16+1" forum (16 countries of Central and Eastern Europe plus China), she added.
 
According to Milan Jovanović, chief analyst of the Digital Forensic Center, China's cooperation with Serbia is achieved through investments, loans, culture and education, and the security sector.
 
Thanks to the direct support of politicians and the media, China was presented as Serbia's most important strategic partner.
 
In Serbia, in the last decade, at least 61 projects have been identified in various stages of completion by or in cooperation with Chinese actors, the value of which is at least 18.7 billion euros.
 
The lack of transparency, says Jovanović, is something that characterizes almost all Chinese projects in Serbia.
 
According to the report of the Center for Global Development, Montenegro is among the eight countries most threatened by the Chinese presence, said Jovanović, specifying that it was placed alongside countries such as Laos, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan.
 
In Montenegro, the most important project is the first section of the Bar-Boljare highway, the completion of which is expected this year.
 
According to the DFC, the credit arrangement with the state-owned Chinese bank of almost one billion euros caused numerous controversies due to its lack of transparency.
 
As a new member of NATO, with a relatively weak institutional capacity, Montenegro is strategically an ideal target for the expansion of Chinese influence in Europe, the DFC report states.
 
The DFC report concludes that the EU's new economic and investment plan for the Western Balkans of 3.2 billion euros is a good response to China's penetration into the region.