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Can China’s charm offensive breathe new life into ties with central and eastern Europe?
- Beijing attempts to woo Balkan and Central European countries, but faces scepticism over Russia relations and stalled cooperation mechanism
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China is carefully stepping up a diplomatic charm offensive to woo countries in the Balkans and Central Europe, but observers say it will not be easy for Beijing to revive its stalled cooperation mechanism with central and eastern Europe.
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Days after a government reshuffle in Montenegro, Chinese ambassador Fan Kun paid a call to the country’s newly named foreign minister Ervin Ibrahimovic, during which he reaffirmed China’s willingness to cooperate with the young Balkan nation.
“China is willing to work with Montenegro to deepen cooperation in traditional areas such as infrastructure and tourism within the Belt and Road Initiative and the China-CEE cooperation mechanism, and at the same time explore new bright spots of cooperation in new energy vehicles, new energy power generation, new infrastructure and other areas,” Fan told Ibrahimovic, who is also a deputy prime minister, on July 31.
The meeting came weeks after Jiang Yu, China’s special representative for China-Central and Eastern Europe Cooperation (China-CEE), paid an eight-day visit to Bulgaria, Slovakia and Montenegro in late June – her third trip to the Balkans and Central Europe since taking the role in September 2022.
‘Bloc confrontations’ and a mentality of taking sides are running deep in the region
In May, China also hosted coordinators from 14 central and eastern European nations in Ningbo, a major port and industrial hub in Zhejiang province.
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