![]() ![]() ![]() China doesn’t have any alternative political vision for the Balkans. It doesn’t aim to undermine confidence in democratic political systems, and it doesn’t use propaganda outlets to export ideology or subvert the region’s accession to the EU or NATO. China supports and benefits from the region’s stability, unlike Russia, which may benefit from its destabilisation. China and the politics of the regionĬhina’s challenge to EU interests in the region is different from that coming from Russia. ![]() With the Belt and Road Initiative China signals its leadership in connectivity and economic integration. China may not aim to export any ideology, but with every large project its state-led model spills over and, in the Balkans, it also increases the risk of undermining the EU’s reformist agenda. Indeed, Chinese infrastructure projects often come with a political price attached, amplifying suspicion of China’s long-term goals in the region. Railways and roads have lost their paramount importance in projecting spheres of interests, but large-scale investments and the opening of new routes still serve as a conduit for political and normative influence. International responses to Chinese initiatives often reflect apprehensions about the changing geopolitical balance of power. The Belgrade-Budapest railway, which will be constructed by Chinese companies according to EU engineering standards and under the supervision of European certification bodies, will help push Chinese contractors up the value chain, thus fulfilling a crucial domestic objective of the Belt and Road Initiative. Most crucially, the region helps Chinese constructors get European references to later access the EU railway construction market. They also involve distributing some of China’s overcapacity in heavy industries: Chinese companies have invested in a steel mill in Smederevo near Belgrade and are building numerous coal-fired power plants, notably in Serbia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They include creating logistical corridors (between the China-owned port of Piraeus in Greece and markets in Central and Western Europe) and building new infrastructure (with €5.5 billion worth of engineering contracts already signed with Serbia). This may provide a boost to the region by connecting it with China’s massive market, but it may also challenge the region’s relations with the EU, as China-backed projects undermine reforms promoted by the EU.Ĭhinese initiatives span various areas in the Balkans. In March, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini warned, “The Balkans can easily become one of the chessboards where the big power game can be played.” Russia may have been the principal target of the remark, but another of the big powers in the region is China, which with its sweeping Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) heralds new roads and railways for the region. In recent months concern has risen in Europe over geopolitical competition in the Balkans. China’s Silk Road project may give a short- term economic boost but it is undermining the EU reform agenda in the Balkans. ![]()
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