Another Chinese Communist party official is visiting Serbia in the latest sign of close cooperation between the two countries.
Li Xiaoxin, a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CCPC) and director of the State Commission for Public Sector Reform, arrived in Belgrade on October 14, a month after the visit of Lin Wu, the party secretary of Shandong Province.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who met with Li, said Serbia is extremely proud of its “excellent relations, ironclad friendship, and overall cooperation with China.” Vucic posted a photo of the meeting on Instagram, saying that he and Li discussed economic cooperation between Serbia and China.
This cooperation is “dynamically developing” through numerous infrastructure and energy projects and “increasingly intense” investment cooperation, especially in mining and the automobile industry, Vucic said.
Serbia is one of the countries in China’s Belt and Road initiative to fund infrastructure projects with Chinese loans.
In addition to meetings with officials in Belgrade, members of the Chinese delegation are meeting with the leadership of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
The SNS said on October 14 that the visit comes after the establishment of cooperation between Serbia and China and after close party cooperation between SNS and the CCPC "paved by presidents Aleksandar Vucic and Xi Jinping."
SEE ALSO: What Is Behind Serbia And China's 'Ironclad Friendship'?Marina Ragus, a member of the SNS presidency and the vice president of the Serbian parliament, said the two countries are in a new phase of developing bilateral relations and have continued to support each other since Xi's visit to Serbia in May. She did not respond to RFE/RL’s inquiry about the frequent visits by Chinese party delegations.
Vuk Vuksanovic, a senior researcher at the Belgrade Center for Security Policy (BCSP), told RFE/RL that the intensified dialogue between the two parties and political elites is an integral part of the Serbian-Chinese partnership.
"The frequency of these visits speaks to the intensity of that partnership and shows a reality that has existed for at least six years, which is that China has replaced Russia as Serbia’s primary partner outside the Western world," says Vuksanovic.
Meanwhile, a delegation of the government of the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina led by provincial President Maja Gojkovic is visiting China’s Shandong Province.
The government of Vojvodina announced on October 13 that officials discussed cooperation and project implementation by Chinese companies in Vojvodina.