How Serbia perceives " The Belt and the Road " Initiative and 16+1 Cooperation (original) (raw)

2017, China-CEE Institute Working Paper

The colorful web of intertwined bilateral and multilateral relations within "The Belt and the Road" and 16+1 initiatives makes a mosaic of interlaced policies, goals and interests. In spite of some similarities between countries "on the road and belt", cooperation between China and individual states doesn't represent a uniform pattern, but a unique conglomerate of attitudes, intentions and actions. That's because of unique condition of each country and region. This situation applies in the case of Serbia also, whose partnership with China can be considered in a variety of ways. This paper examines Serbia's attitude towards cooperation within "The Belt and the Road" and 16+1 initiatives using two levels of analysis: authoritative, which considers acts and public performance of Serbia's authorities towards those initiatives, and non-authoritative level of analysis, which explores views and attitudes of scientific community, non-government organizations and think-tanks, public opinion, as well as the author's viewpoint regarding the topic. For Serbia, importance of cooperation with China within these initiatives is twofold-economical, which includes intensive cooperation in improving infrastructure , Chinese direct economical investments and financial cooperation, and geopolitical and security significance, which includes mutual political support between Serbia and China in international organizations and maintenance of peace and faith in prosperity in unstable the region of the Balkans, through mutual investments and cooperation. The author also evaluates importance of those two initiatives for Serbia by analyzing cooperation through the progress of achievement of the goals stipulated in the 5-point proposal of President Xi Jingping, exposed in Astana, in 2013: policy coordination, better road connections, unimpeded trade, monetary cooperation and people to people bonds. Evaluation of mutual cooperation within the confines of these parameters provides immediate insight into Serbia's commitment and mood towards cooperation within "The Belt and the Road" and 16+1 initiatives.