Sergey Saenko, international observer

Chinese President Xi Jinping toured a number of countries of the Old World from May 5 to 10. The choice of countries visited by the PRC leader was carefully considered. First, Paris – French President Emmanuel Macron, after leaving the political arena of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, claims leadership in Europe.

Xi Jinping then went to Belgrade and Budapest, the capitals of two states that have recently shown increased willingness to cooperate with China and do not support the anti-Russian rhetoric of the West.

It should be noted that relations between Beijing and Europe are one of the interesting subjects of modern world politics. At the same time, the Chinese view of the EU differs from the Russian one. Russia has long come to the conclusion that the Old World has completely abandoned its independent foreign policy course, firmly integrating itself into Washington’s channel. For this reason, Moscow is gradually curtailing its ties with European countries and turning its gaze to the East and South. Beijing believes that the European Union will not give up its benefits from cooperation with China, despite the fact that American dependence brings it only material losses.

Experts are inclined to believe that an active and calibrated foreign policy of the PRC can create a set of incentives for Europeans that could slow down their drift towards the United States and put limits on Europe’s participation in a possible military-political confrontation between Washington and Beijing in the future. It is no secret that the United States needs Europe to implement its strategy of containing China, which Washington views as its main rival for the coming decades.

In turn, the European Union does not see a direct Chinese threat to itself. While Russia (at the instigation of the United States) in Brussels is considered an immediate threat to its stability. Although Moscow, we emphasize, has not given and is not giving any reasons for this. The result is that the United States needs Europe to contain China, primarily in an economic and technological sense. While the Old World needs the United States to contain Russia, primarily in the military and military-technical sense. And China is certainly present in this complex configuration.

For this reason, Xi Jinping’s current visit to Europe does not look at all extraordinary. Time will tell how successful it was. However, it can already be said with fresh evidence that Beijing has not changed one iota its position on key issues that were discussed in all three European capitals – be it its attitude to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, the conflict around Ukraine, Kosovo or China’s relations with Russia. And this fact seems extremely important for Moscow.

Of course, the most difficult negotiations for the Chinese leader were in Paris with President Macron, who was joined by the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who had flown in especially for this purpose. What did you discuss? First of all, economic and trade relations between China and the European Union. And they are far from rosy, despite the fact that the trade turnover between Beijing and Brussels last year amounted to $782.98 billion and even exceeded the same indicator for trade between China and the United States – $664.45 billion. It is not at all accidental in this regard; expert Alain Wang from the prestigious Ecole Institute central Paris wrote on the pages of the newspaper Le Figaro that “Xi arrived in order to prevent the doors of the European market from closing for Chinese products.”

The fact is that in recent years the European Union has taken a number of measures that Beijing considers clearly protectionist. In particular, we are talking about the EU’s intention to impose increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, which now account for about a quarter of the entire European market in this category. China is accused of dumping, which it denies. Will a way out of this situation be found? Big question. At the very least, Beijing is unlikely to make any concessions, since for the current Chinese leadership, economic issues are the main ones, and it builds its foreign policy based on this postulate.

Another equally important topic was the discussion of the situation in Ukraine. According to many local observers, the French President and the head of the European Commission tried to convince the Chinese leader to influence Russia in such a way that it would end the SVO, agree to a truce at least for the period of the Summer Olympic Games in Paris this summer, and Beijing would reduce the sale of “dual goods” to Moscow. Appointments.” But, apparently, China does not intend to change its position on the Ukrainian issue and continues to advocate a political settlement of the conflict within the framework of an international conference with equal participation of Russia and Ukraine.

The next stage of the Chinese President’s European tour was Serbia. It is symbolic that Xi Jinping’s visit to Belgrade took place on the 25th anniversary of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. Then, in 1999, in addition to a huge number of citizens of Yugoslavia itself, three Chinese journalists became victims of NATO bombing, and 20 Chinese citizens were injured in a US Air Force attack on the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade. The then US President, Bill Clinton, apologized to China, saying that the bombing was an accident. However, Beijing did not accept these apologies. According to Xi Jinping, China will never forget these bombings.

It should be noted that if in Paris they wanted to extract bonuses from the Chinese leader and tried to impose a European vision of the conflict in Ukraine, then in Belgrade the leader of the PRC was truly greeted as a close friend, like an older brother with whom the younger one was ready to speak honestly and openly. Most Serbs see room for further progress in relations between the two countries, especially in terms of new investment and job creation, as well as increasing Serbia’s visibility on the global map.

As they say in Beijing and Belgrade, the two countries are connected by “iron friendship.” Today China is Serbia’s second most important trading partner. According to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, trade between the two countries amounted to $6.1 billion in 2023 and is constantly growing. The strategic partnership, local experts believe, became possible thanks to the country’s “multi-vector foreign policy”, which consists of balancing between West and East, Europe and Asia. And Xi Jinping’s visit to Belgrade is further confirmation of this.

The Chairman of the People’s Republic of China completed his tour to the Old World in Budapest, where he was given a ceremonial reception. By the way, Xi Jinping last visited Hungary 15 years ago. During this time, much has changed in the international arena. And as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban noted, “the world is currently multipolar, and one of its supporting pillars is the PRC.” The central topics at the negotiations between the leaders of Hungary and China were modern global challenges and resolving the situation in Ukraine, on which the positions of the two countries are very similar.

Note that Hungary, like Serbia, is part of the “New Silk Road”: China is building and actively investing in trade routes to sell the products of its economy. Motorways and a high-speed rail line between Belgrade and Budapest are part of this initiative. Orban’s cabinet is increasingly attracting Chinese automakers as Hungary seeks to become a key automotive hub in Europe and does not want to rely solely on German automakers Audi, BMW and Daimler-Benz.

In the West, Hungary is sometimes called “China’s Trojan Horse in Europe.” This is partly true, since in Beijing itself Viktor Orban is considered a “panda hugger” – this is how China’s friends are characterized there. And this fact irritates many of Hungary’s EU partners. Budapest, by the way, has repeatedly proven its commitment to friendship with Beijing. Suffice it to say that Hungary blocked EU proposals criticizing China’s human rights violations.

In conclusion, after the current meeting between Xi Jinping and Viktor Orban, the Chinese Xinhua agency reported that China and Hungary have decided to upgrade their relations to an “all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership in a new era,” which is in the interests of both countries.