Xi Jinping says Serbia partnership is a "community with a shared future"

During a late May visit to Beijing, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić signed over twenty agreements with China covering technology, artificial intelligence, and energy, including €953 million in investment pledges, shifting cooperation away from traditional infrastructure. Chinese leader Xi Jinping described the partnership as one of common destiny. This deepening ties comes as Serbia’s European Union membership talks have stalled since 2021, and EU financial aid has been suspended over rule-of-law concerns. While the EU remains Serbia’s largest economic partner, analysts say Beijing’s investment pledges offer diplomatic support amid uncertain EU assistance, further exposing the gap between Serbia’s stated European ambitions and its actual foreign policy orientation.