A group of Chinese military planes
Delivered anti-aircraft missiles to Serbia
Why is Serbia buying Chinese weapons?
Could this mean another war in Europe?
Welcome to China Uncensored.
I’m Shelley Zhang, filling in for Chris Chappell, who is busy reading the Global Times.
Last week, China made a “semi-secret” delivery of missiles to Serbia.
I’m guessing it was only semi-secret because people who track flights on Twitter spotted
six People’s Liberation Army Air Force cargo planes flying to Serbia.
And others posted photos of the cargo planes landing in Serbia.
And then Chris’s favorite state-run media, the Global Times, wrote a glowing article
about the cargo planes and China’s strategic transport capabilities.
Ok, first of all, this doesn’t even sound semi-secret.
It’s not secret at all!
And second of all, these Global Times writers really drew the short straw here.
I mean, their fellow propagandists get to write awesome stories about how the US spreads
biological poison around the world.
While it acts like a Cold War schemer or a vampire!
The Global Times sure has a way with words.
Meanwhile these guys are stuck trying to make China’s military cargo planes sound cool.
Those cargo plane capabilities are totally strategic, yes, very transporty.
But hey, not everybody can be on the coveted America-bashing beat.
It takes skill to photoshop something this badly.
Seriously, I have no idea what’s going on here.
Unless it’s one of those hidden object iPhone games.
Oh hey, I found the binoculars.
But back to China and Serbia.
The important part of this story isn't about the cargo planes.
It’s about what was in the cargo planes.
They were “reportedly carrying HQ-22 surface-to-air missile systems for the Serbian military.”
The HQ-22 is a Chinese anti-aircraft missile system.
The export version, which Serbia purchased, is also known as the FK-3.
“The Chinese missile system has been widely compared to the American Patriot and the Russian
S-300 surface-to-air missile systems although it has a shorter range than more advanced
S-300s.”
Serbia will be the first European country to use these Chinese missiles.
And it’s pretty controversial.
Back in 2020, the US warned Serbia that buying these Chinese missiles could jeopardize their
attempt to join the European Union.
You see, Serbia has wanted to join the European Union for over a decade now.
They’ve been an official EU candidate since 2012, but the earliest they can get in is
2025.
It’s like the longest job interview ever.
And Serbia isn’t exactly passing with flying colors.
So when news broke that Serbia was thinking of buying these Chinese missiles, the US embassy
warned Serbia about doing business with Chinese companies.
The US also said that their buying decisions “should reflect Serbia’s stated policy
goal of greater European integration,”
And suggested that Serbia look into buying from non-authoritarian countries instead.
That’s generally good advice.
But the Serbian government took that advice about as well as you did when your friends
told you not to drunk dial your ex.
They bought the Chinese surface-to-air missiles.
Just like you drunk dialed your ex.
And two years later, the Chinese military delivered those missiles in what one Serbian
military analyst called a “demonstration of force.”
More after the break.
Welcome back.
China has confirmed they delivered “regular military supplies” to Serbia over the weekend.
Anti-aircraft missiles count as regular military supplies right?
I mean, what are irregular military supplies?
Smelly markers?
While Serbia would be the first European country to get these FK-3 missiles, they’ve been
buying other Chinese military hardware as well.
Including missile-armed Chinese drones back in 2020.
Serbia also relies on Russia for military equipment, but Russia is a little busy right
now.
So it’s nice to know that Serbia has another authoritarian regime to lean on.
And Serbia has been forging closer ties with China for years.
It’s a big part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Europe.
The Belt and Road has brought billions in investments and infrastructure loans to Serbia.
But the Belt and Road has also brought Serbia, and stop me if you’ve heard this one before,
serious environmental pollution, political corruption, resource extraction, and increasing
dependency on the Chinese Communist Party.
“Serbia…is importing environmentally damaging economic projects from China while also embracing
the Chinese model of politics in which the elite sacrifices environmental safety and
public health for the sake of economic growth and to stay in power.”
Back in 2019, Serbian officials bought a lot of Huawei equipment, including facial recognition
cameras.
Serbian human rights activists have accused the government of using these facial recognition
cameras to target protesters.
Serbia’s reliance on China is also making it harder for it to join the EU.
“The European Parliament has also expressed concern about Chinese economic projects in
Serbia, including on environmental grounds, adding another obstacle in Serbia’s path
toward EU membership.”
But Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vucic, doesn’t seem too worried.
Vucic spent his first term as president going all in on China.
He traveled to Beijing and met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in 2017.
And in 2018.
And in 2019.
And earlier this year for the Beijing Olympics.
You can tell it’s 2022 because they’re wearing blue ties.
Last year, Vucic appeared in a Xinhua News Agency photo getting a shot of the Sinopharm
vaccine.
That’s not the first time Vucic has expressed his gratitude for China’s Covid aid.
Here he is in 2020, receiving a shipment of Chinese medical supplies.
And kissing the Chinese flag.
That dude is looking for love in all the wrong places.
Earlier this month, Vucic won reelection with a landslide victory.
Something the Chinese regime is pretty happy about.
Because there’s going to be a lot more Chinese flag kissing in Vucic’s second term.
Especially as Serbia gets more flack from the West for not totally condemning Russia.
Growing their ties with China seems like a safer alternative.
Vucic has already announced a free trade agreement with China by the end of the year.
But China’s interest in Serbia isn’t just about economics.
It’s also about NATO.
I’ll tell you more after the break.
Welcome back.
Serbia and China have been establishing closer ties for decades.
In some ways, it goes all the way back to the ‘90s.
Remember the ‘90s?
Super Nintendo
Beanie Babies.
A decade of war in the former Yugoslavia, including Serbia.
In case you haven’t noticed, the Chinese Communist Party hates NATO.
I mean it
Really.
Hates.
NATO.
For one, NATO has called China a global security challenge.
And the Chinese regime definitely does not want NATO to expand in parts of the world
where China is increasing its influence.
Including Central and Eastern Europe.
And especially Asia.
And as you can see from Chinese state-run media, the Chinese regime also considers NATO
a puppet of the United States.
And the Chinese Communist Party considers the US its worst enemy.
The Chinese Communist Party also hates NATO because of the war in Kosovo in the late ‘90s.
NATO intervened in that war with air strikes in the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,
now Serbia.
In May 1999, one of those airstrikes hit the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, killing three
Chinese journalists.
According to NATO, it was a tragic mistake.
The US government, which coordinated that bombing, said it had meant to hit a Yugoslav
military target that was on the same street.
President Clinton personally apologized.
And the US ended up paying millions in compensation to the Chinese government and to the families
of the people who were killed or injured in the bombing.
But the Chinese Communist Party didn’t believe it was an accident.
Chinese officials continue to say the bombing was deliberate.
And they bring it up whenever they’re upset at NATO.
Back in February, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying was defending China’s
position on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
She said NATO still owed Chinese people a debt of blood for the embassy bombing.
That bombing definitely drew Serbia and China closer together.
But Serbia and China have something else in common, too: what they consider a breakaway
province.
Back in 2008, Kosovo declared independence from Serbia.
It’s currently recognized as an independent state by more than 90 other countries, including
most of the West.
Serbia does not recognize Kosovo.
Neither does Russia, or China.
China obviously sees parallels between Kosovo and Taiwan.
Serbia has asked China for help with Kosovo.
In some ways Serbia’s Kosovo strategy sounds similar to China’s rhetoric.
Like when President Vucic accused the US of being behind Kosovo’s desire to join NATO.
I’m going to guess that’s not the reason a small country wants to join an alliance
of bigger countries to protect it from another country that’s it’s already had a war
with.
Serbia has also been pressuring countries to stop recognizing Kosovo as a country, similar
to what China has been doing with countries who recognize Taiwan.
And they’ve had some success.
But the Kosovo situation is also making Western countries nervous about Russia and China supplying
Serbia with weapons.
“There are fears in the West that the arming of Serbia by Russia and China could encourage
the Balkan country toward another war, especially against its former province of Kosovo.”
Let’s hope that ‘90s trend does not make a comeback.
But one thing’s for sure: now that Serbia and China are cozying up even more, get ready
for a lot more flag kissing.
Once again, I’m Shelley Zhang, filling in for Chris.
Thanks for watching this episode of China Uncensored.