Serbia wants to thank China with 'Comrade Xi' statue

BELGRADE • First came billions of dollars of investment, then millions of doses of vaccines. Now there is a campaign for Serbia to thank China in a way that harks back to a bygone era: By building a statue to "Comrade Xi".

The proposal comes from the fringe New Communist Party of Yugoslavia, which has paid for billboards in Belgrade to rally support for the tribute to the Chinese president to be sited in a local park.

While the government has not backed the idea, there is little doubt Serbia has gravitated more towards the East than West during the coronavirus pandemic.

Serbia, along with European Union member Hungary, shot ahead of much of the continent in inoculating its populations after directly purchasing vaccines from China when the programme orchestrated by Brussels was floundering. It was when leaders continued to court China's soft power.

In Belgrade, a new US$55 million (S$73 million) Chinese Cultural Centre is being completed on the site of the former Chinese embassy destroyed by Nato missiles in 1999.

The friendship has particularly worked out for Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic so far.

The world's most populous nation has invested in Serbia's sole steelmaker, bought by China's HBIS Group, and the biggest copper and gold miner, now controlled by Zijin Mining. Together with contracts awarded to Chinese builders redeveloping Serbia's infrastructure, investments exceed US$8 billion.

The government praised Mr Xi effusively a year ago when China first sent medical aid, including hospital ventilators. Serbia imported 3.7 million Sinopharm vaccines, accounting for almost 70 per cent of doses so far.

The question is what cosying up to China means for Serbia's road to EU membership, which Mr Vucic is pursuing. Along with Russia, China has backed Serbia's continuing claim over Kosovo, which Belgrade must drop if it wants to join the bloc. The EU's investment in Serbia also dwarfs that of China.

"Serbian people value true friends," said Mr Aleksandar Banjanac, the communist party's secretary-general and the driving force behind the statue plan. "It would be a symbolic but important gesture to show our gratitude for all the help."

BLOOMBERG