After the end of the first Cold War (1949−1989), the People’s Republic of China (PRC) focused its policy and national interest in the Balkan Peninsula as well as in Southeast Europe mainly on strengthening its economic and financial influence in the areas of economic development (opening its own factories), energy (exploitation of mineral resources), and infrastructure projects (such as the construction of highways and bridges).

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It is important to note that China has generally avoided significant internal political changes after the first Cold War and the collapse of socialism in the global context. China still has a one-party system without parliamentary democracy, just like neighboring North Korea, which relies on China for most of its existence. The attempted pro-Western colored revolution in Beijing in April 1989 ended in Tiananmen Square in central Beijing in August of the same year when the army dispersed the demonstrators without using excessive force (the alleged massacre in the square is pure Western anti-Chinese propaganda). Since then, the new Chinese leadership has been implementing extensive economic measures and opening China to world markets.

Image: Jiang in 2002 (CC BY 4.0)

On one hand, under Jiang Zemin, any political opposition was suppressed, but on the other hand, there were impressive annual growth rates of around 10 per cent, which, as a consequence, led to significant social stratification of the Chinese society following a general increase in the standard of living. These internal comprehensive economic and financial reforms have been implemented within the framework of the newly introduced state capitalism with the widespread use of private business or capitalism, i.e., by establishing private companies and joint-stock companies based on Western models. Thus, in China today, a symbiosis of a one-party political system and capitalist economic relations has occurred.

In the Chinese case, this experiment has so far proven to be more than successful, so that the Chinese economy is now the second largest in the world, with expert estimates that it will surely break into first place at the beginning of the second half of this century (if not before). In many economic sectors, China is already a world leader, such as the production of electric cars, as well as IT technology (mobile phones, tablets, computers, and components for them). Many factories from Western countries have been transferred to China, or new ones are being opened in which Western technical products and components are produced. In other words, thanks to its economic power and financial wealth, China has also become an indispensable military and political factor in the world, especially since China is one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council with the veto right. Chinese prestige in international relations increased by the incorporation of Hong Kong and Macao in 1997 into mainland China. International recognition was manifested by China’s entry into the WTO in 2001, and its commission to host the 2008 Olympic Summer Games. 

China has not directly interfered in the internal relations and problems of other countries, which means that it has not initiated or participated in any war on any continent. China’s official position on resolving world conflicts is that they should be resolved exclusively through diplomacy without aggressive policies by any country. Such positions were clearly expressed during the Yugoslav crisis in the 1990s, when Beijing advocated its principled positions regarding respect for and preservation of international law. For this reason, in 1992, China did not support UN sanctions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) due to the escalation of hostilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but it did not veto the proposed resolution, just like Russia, so the resolution itself was adopted, and UN sanctions were imposed on the FRY. China later expressed the same views of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, such as China’s opposition to NATO’s aggression against the FRY in 1999. However, China did not adequately respond to NATO’s clear and direct provocative provocation of May 7, 1999, when the building of the new Chinese embassy in Belgrade was allegedly “mistakenly” bombed (because NATO was using an old map of the city! sic.). This incident ended with a diplomatic agreement between Beijing and Washington, but shocked both the Chinese government and the Chinese public.

Chinese diplomacy supported the Dayton Peace Agreement signed in November 1995 by representatives (Presidents) of the four (guarantor) states because this agreement, regardless of being dictated by Washington, established peace in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina after the civil war of 1992−1995. Defending the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity in international relations, Beijing did not recognize the independence of Kosovo after the unilateral declaration by the (Albanian) Kosovo Assembly in February 2008. At the same time, China provided political (and probably financial) support to smaller communist parties in the Balkan region.

Image: Serbia’s President Vucic with China’s President Xi in May 2026 (Source)

It can be freely emphasized that China has the best and strongest relations in the Balkans with the Republic of Serbia, which was unequivocally confirmed by the recent multi-day visit of the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, to China in May 2026 (immediately after the visits to China by Trump and Putin), when more than 30 bilateral cooperation agreements were signed of the worth of some one billion USD/$. Only Serbia, unlike all other countries in the Western Balkans, signed a strategic partnership with China (in August 2009). However, it must be emphasized that other countries on the Balkan Peninsula also have developed relations with China, but not this type of strategic partnership as Serbia.

On the one hand, the level of Chinese investment in the Western Balkans is relatively low, but on the other hand, Beijing is striving to cooperate as successfully as possible with all the countries of the Balkans and Southeast Europe. Many analysts believe that China’s new “Silk Road” leads precisely through the Balkan Peninsula. In any case, China considers the Balkan states to be very important for its economic penetration into the European Union (EU) market. For this reason, China has been providing credit and financial support for infrastructure projects in the Balkans for years, such as railways, highways, energy plants, the construction of bridges, tunnels, and other transport elements.

A major success for China in this field is the agreement within the framework of the China + 17 Central and Eastern European Countries Forum from 2012, based on which China committed to implementing a certain number of large and very important projects in the field of infrastructure. As an example of a specific and very significant investment by China in the Balkans, one of the crucial regional transport projects is the high-speed railway line from Belgrade to Budapest. China provides favorable financial loans for the development of regional road and transport infrastructure in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Doboj-Banja Luka highway), in Montenegro (Bar-Boljare highway), or in North Macedonia (Ohrid-Kičevo and Štip-Miladinovci highways), etc.

However, in practice, there are many examples of Chinese financial investments that often contradict compliance with formal legal requirements and EU rules, as well as national legislation of the countries of the region regarding the execution of works. In principle, Chinese investment and business companies want to implement signed projects, but to avoid having the works decided on in the usual tenders. It is also clear that China is very keen to invest its financial capital in various regional energy projects. In principle, the further and ever-increasing influence of China and Chinese capital in the Western Balkans, in particular, may be limited by the influence of the EU and the USA, and therefore, this influence will primarily depend on the global arrangement and the influence of the great powers in the Balkans. However, in parallel with China’s investment processes and influences in the region, cooperation in the fields of tourism and culture is also strengthening. It can be concluded that the existing agreements between the Western Balkan countries and the EU also give China an advantage in placing its products and financial capital on this regional market.

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Dr. Vladislav B. Sotirović is a former university professor in Vilnius, Lithuania. He is a Research Fellow at the Center for Geostrategic Studies. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

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