Vucic: China to back Serbia on all issues raised in UN

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Wednesday Serbia would have China's firm support on all issues raised in the UN and that a joint statement signed by him and Chinese President Xi Jinping raised the level of bilateral relations from strategic ties to a community with a shared future in the new era as the highest form of cooperation between Serbia and China.

"I am proud to have been able to sign such a statement with Xi. We have enormous respect for China," Vucic said at a press conference with Xi.

The joint statement is a strategically important direction for development of bilateral relations, as well as for our view of the world, Vucic said.

He noted that Serbia supported the One China principle and that, for Serbia, any questions asked about Taiwan, Xinjiang or Hong Kong were internal affairs of the People's Republic of China.

"It is a question for the People's Republic of China. The way China wants to solve those things is the way it is going to be. They will always have the support of the Republic of Serbia for that because that is what the UN Charter and international public law rest upon," Vucic said.

He noted that he was grateful to Xi for very clear positions on the Kosovo-Metohija issue and the territorial integrity of Serbia.

"But - I quote President Xi - the Republic of Serbia will also have firm support of the People's Republic of China on all issues raised in the UN. That is extremely important for us and I spoke to President Xi about everything we are facing," Vucic said, thanking China for the support.

Despite the fact Serbia is under pressure from many of the world's biggest powers, it is fortunate to always have had a friend in the People's Republic of China, he said.

"Today, I told President Xi, our great friend, that Serbia, despite being a small country, would resist, very strongly and bravely, attempts of revision of historical memory as well as further pressure on the Republic of Serbia, and that our resistance would be incomparably stronger than some might imagine," Vucic noted.

He also said China had been the largest foreign investor in Serbia in 2021-2023.

"It is the second-largest partner in goods trade. Our exports to China have risen by 140 times in the past ten years. Our goods trade, direct trade between our countries, rose by as much as eight times in the past ten years. Investments in the Republic of Serbia from the People's Republic of China rose by 30 times in the past ten years," Vucic said.