At the same time, Serbian President noted that the country is “on the European path”.
Serbia has cooperated and will continue to cooperate with Russia and China, despite the dissatisfaction of the West. This was stated by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to RTS on Wednesday after the forum in Davos.
“I am really fed up with sermons on how we are in contact with Russia and China. And it is not necessary to teach little Serbia how harmful the relations with China are, when I see [the president of the People’s Republic of China] Xi Jinping three or four times less often than some leaders of the Western European countries. And Serbia’s trade turnover with China is 70-100 times less than that of these countries, which are teaching us, they use every opportunity to sell their goods to China, to get everything from China, to earn on China. But they say: “You Serbs do not dare cooperate with the Chinese, it is not for you”, – stated the President.
“The same situation with Russia: as soon as they [Russian President Vladimir] need Putin for something, then everything is fine. But it’s not for you Serbs, you little ones, who are you to cooperate with Russia past us? We are a sovereign country, an independent country, and we will cooperate with Russia and China. Yes, we are on the European path, this is our strategic course, but there is no doubt that we will continue to cooperate and develop cooperation with both Russia and China, because we have our own policy. Our own country, our own people, and my job is to fight for our people and our country”, – Vucic said.
Earlier Vucic said he had received written confirmation of the upcoming visit of Xi Jinping to Belgrade in late 2020. Before that, the Serbian leader had repeatedly invited the President of China to come to Serbia.
Serbia’s foreign policy envisages maintaining friendly relations with Russia and China, as well as developing ties with the EU and the United States. Belgrade intends to maintain military neutrality by refusing to join NATO and other military blocs. This position is objectionable in the West: Serbia has been repeatedly made aware that European integration is possible only if two conditions are met – the recognition of Kosovo’s independence and the termination of friendly relations with Russia.