Xi hits out at Nato ahead of visit to Belgrade
Chinese flags adorned highways in Serbia yesterday as Belgrade prepared to welcome Xi Jinping, who ended the first leg of his European tour with a visit to the French Pyrenees with Emmanuel Macron.
Xi prepared for his arrival in Belgrade last night by hitting out at Nato for its 1999 bombing of the Chinese embassy in the Serbian capital in which three Chinese journalists were killed.
In an article for the Serbian website Politika, Xi wrote: “Twenty-five years ago, Nato flagrantly bombed the Chinese embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, killing three Chinese journalists. We must never forget this.”
While the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, restated the EU’s readiness to impose tariffs on cheap Chinese imports including electric cars after her talks with China’s president on Monday, Xi can expect full support in Belgrade as well as in Budapest when he travels there later this week.
During his visit with Macron, Xi said he would welcome more highlevel talks on trade frictions but denied there was a Chinese “overcapacity problem”, casting doubt on how much progress could be achieved on trade.
After watching traditional dancers perform, Macron gave Xi a woollen blanket made in the Pyrenees, a Tour de France jersey and armagnac from the nearby south-western region.
French brandy is at risk of being hit by Chinese trade sanctions after Beijing opened an anti-dumping investigation into European brandy, seen as retaliation for the EU’s inquiries into China’s subsidies for electric cars, solar panels, wind turbines and medical devices.
French and Chinese companies concluded agreements on Monday in areas including energy, finance and transport, but most were renewed commitments to work together and there were no significant deals made.