BELGRADE, Serbia: Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Serbia on Tuesday evening, the second stop on his European tour after a state visit to France.
China’s state-run CCTV said Xi Jinping “arrived in Belgrade on a special plane to pay a state visit to Serbia at the invitation of President Aleksandar Vucic.”
President Xi Jinping arrived in Belgrade after French President Emmanuel Macron hosted a high-altitude lunch for the Chinese leader at an orphanage in the Pyrenees.
Next on his European tour, he will hold talks with President Aleksandar Vucic in Serbia, where China has invested heavily in expanding its economic footprint.
Serbia’s state radio station RTS showed Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan disembarking from an Air China plane to be greeted by Vucic, with a small crowd of welcomers waiting along the red carpet in traditional dress with flags and flowers.
In France, Macron pressed a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade.
But the other two countries Xi has chosen for his first trip to Europe since 2019 – Hungary is his last stop after Serbia – are seen as the most sympathetic to Moscow in Europe.
The first day of Xi Jinping’s state visit to France saw respectful but sometimes forceful exchanges between the two presidents during a series of talks on Monday.
Macron, who was initially joined by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, called on Xi to not allow the export of any technology Russia could use in its invasion of Ukraine and asked Beijing to do everything it could to end the war.
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Xi has warned the West not to “tarnish” China over the conflict and has also hit back at accusations that China’s overcapacity is causing global trade imbalances.
Macron welcomed Xi to a mountain restaurant near the village of Bagnere-de-Bigorre to explore these issues in relative privacy and enjoy local delicacies.
Europe is concerned that although Beijing is officially neutral on the Ukrainian conflict, it is essentially supporting Russia, which uses Chinese machine tools to manufacture weapons.
After a bilateral meeting with Xi Jinping, Macron welcomed China’s “commitments” not to supply Russia with weapons, while expressing concern over possible supplies of dual-use technology.
