Public Displays Of Affection? Chinese Signage In Serbia Sparks EU Ire

A screen shows a rippling Chinese flag in the Serbian capital, Belgrade. This is one of several displays of pro-Chinese messaging installed across Serbia during the coronavirus pandemic.

A sign apparently paid for by Informer, a Serbian newspaper aligned with the government. The billboard reads: "Thanks Brother [Chinese President] Xi."
 
The sign was installed after China sent medical supplies to Serbia amid the coronavirus pandemic. It remains unclear how much of the delivery was paid for and how much was donated. China has been widely criticized for its failure to contain the virus outbreak when it began in Wuhan in late 2019.
 

A banner in central Belgrade on April 18 saying: “Serbs And Chinese, Brothers Forever.”
 
Ognjen Zoric, a Serbian journalist with RFE/RL’s Balkan Service, says there is genuine goodwill toward China among the Serbian public, especially after the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia that China opposed, but signs like these may be aimed at getting the EU’s attention. Serbia has been a candidate for EU accession since 2011.

A banner linking Serbian and Chinese flags, and Serbian and Russian ones, on a municipal building in southern Belgrade on April 13. The Cyrillic script on the left says: “Iron Friends, Together In Good And Evil!" and on the right: “Thank You Brother Russia!”
 
 
 
 

A woman walks past giant banners linking Chinese and Serbian flags in Belgrade.
 
Zoric says both China and Russia are “very present” in Serbia and such signage may be a way of hinting to the EU that the country has options for geopolitical alignment. “I think Serbia is trying to make the EU jealous a little bit. Otherwise, we could open ourselves to Russia and China.”

The Palace Albania building in central Belgrade lit up in the colors of the Chinese flag on March 21.

Zoric says while some billboards have been rented by government-friendly media, other pro-Chinese displays have been paid for by city authorities.

A screen says "thanks” to Chinese President Xi Jinping next to Serbia’s National Assembly building.

In late April, a senior EU official said, “If you could go to Belgrade, you would see billboards on the main streets of President Xi from China, saying ‘Thanks brother Xi, you are the only one to help us.' Which is very funny, because I have never seen a billboard saying, ‘Thanks to the EU for the help it has been providing us.’ And we have been providing a lot of help to Serbia and other countries of the Balkans.”

A protester outside Serbia’s National Assembly alongside a sign showing Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and President Xi that reads, “Serbs And Chinese, Brothers Forever,” on April 28.
 
During a video summit this month, the EU announced a “robust economic investment” for Balkan countries, on top of the 3.3 billion euros ($3.6 billion) in emergency funding the EU had already earmarked for the region. “The Western Balkans belongs in the EU and there is no question for us about it,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after the summit.