China’s Xi Cultivates ‘Ironclad Friendship’ in Eastern Europe

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Chinese President Xi Jinping in Serbia and Hungary, Israel reopening a vital aid crossing into Gaza, and general elections in North Macedonia.

Beijing Woos Eastern Europe

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Hungary on Wednesday for the third and final stop of his European tour. He began his trip on Monday in France and took a pit stop in Serbia before heading to Budapest, where he will remain until Friday.

This is the first time that the Chinese leader has visited Eastern Europe since a trip to the Czech Republic in 2016, and it demonstrates Xi’s resolve to create the 16+1 group, a Chinese diplomatic initiative with former communist European countries that are investing in Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Both Serbia and Hungary are BRI members.

“There are thousands of things that we can and should learn from our Chinese friends,” Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said, calling bilateral ties an “ironclad friendship.” Beijing is Belgrade’s largest foreign investor. Serbia’s Infrastructure and Energy Ministry reported this year that Chinese funding reached nearly $20 billion, and on Wednesday, the two nations announced a new free trade agreement. The deal, which will begin in July, aims to cancel tariffs on almost 95 percent of Serbia’s exports to China within the next five to 10 years.

Hungary also touts strong economic ties with China. Budapest received $11.5 billion in Chinese funds in 2023 alone, much of it related to electric vehicles. Whereas the European Union has warned against China dominating the critical sector, Hungary has leaned into Chinese support. Last December, Chinese carmaker BYD announced that it would build an assembly plant in Hungary, marking its first EV production facility in Europe. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban hopes to announce more investment opportunities with Great Wall Motor, another Chinese-owned EV company, during Xi’s visit this week.

Neither Serbia nor Hungary plan to mention human rights abuses in China, nor Beijing’s support for Russia. The two European nations are both led by authoritarian-leaning politicians whose views largely align with China’s anti-Western mindset. Hungary must maintain its “policy of openness” at a time when “our most natural sales market [Western Europe] is sick,” in Orban’s words. Hungary and Serbia have repeatedly been critical of Western support for Ukraine in its war against Russia; Belgrade has balked at imposing sanctions on Moscow; and Budapest has vetoed EU sanctions against China on Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and Taiwan issues.

Territorial claims also align Beijing with some of Eastern Europe. Just as China does not recognize Taiwan’s sovereignty, Serbia does not recognize Kosovo’s independence. In turn, China supports Serbia’s claims over the former territory, and Vucic has said that “Taiwan is China—full stop.”

Today’s Most Read

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• What to Expect from Israel’s Rafah Offensive by Jack Detsch
• No, This Is Not a Cold War—Yet by Michael Hirsh

What We’re Following

Aid concerns. Israel reopened the vital Kerem Shalom crossing into southern Gaza on Wednesday. However, the United Nations said no humanitarian aid has entered thus far, a situation that a U.S. State Department spokesperson called “just unacceptable.” Even if supplies were ready to cross, the U.N. warned that there was no one on the Gaza side to receive the aid since Palestinian workers have fled the area to escape fighting.

Israel closed Kerem Shalom over the weekend following a Hamas attack that killed four Israeli soldiers nearby. On Tuesday, Israel also took control of the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing—prompting concern that critical aid would not be able to enter the enclave with both transit points closed. The State Department said the Rafah crossing did not open for fuel deliveries on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, fighting raged along the outskirts of Rafah on Wednesday as Israel moved ahead with its controversial ground offensive in the southern Gaza city. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed on Wednesday that Washington has paused a weapons shipment to Israel over its Rafah operation. And cease-fire negotiations remain at an impasse as talks continue in Cairo, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with U.S. CIA Director William Burns on Wednesday to discuss the potential release of hostages being held in Gaza.

EU accession on the line. North Macedonia held presidential and parliamentary elections on Wednesday, with the right-wing opposition coalition expected to win on both fronts. More than 1,700 candidates are competing for the unicameral parliament’s 120 seats, while the presidential vote will decide the runoff winner of a race that began in April.

These elections could determine North Macedonia’s bid to join the EU. Bulgaria remains one of the nation’s biggest obstacles toward accession after blocking membership talks until North Macedonia acknowledges the country’s Bulgarian minority in its constitution. Whereas the ruling Social Democratic Union has signaled its openness to the amendment, the opposition VMRO-DPMNE rejects the proposal.

Wednesday’s elections “will serve as a stark reflection of the mood within the country—where voters are frustrated with the way European integration has progressed and eager for a much-needed overhaul of the country’s many broken institutions,” journalist Bojan Stojkovski wrote in Foreign Policy.

Massive attack. Russian forces targeted nearly a dozen energy infrastructure facilities across Ukraine on Wednesday. More than 70 missiles and drones caused serious damage at three power plants and sparked electricity cutoffs in nine regions. At least three people were injured in the Kyiv and Kirovohrad oblasts. Wednesday’s attack coincided with the day that Ukraine recognizes the defeat of Nazi Germany during World War II, and it comes one day after Russian President Vladimir Putin was sworn into his record-breaking fifth term.

Moscow has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s power infrastructure to hurt public morale and damage plants that assist in military production. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, Moscow has damaged nearly half of Kyiv’s energy facilities, with destruction costing around $12.5 billion.

Odds and Ends

Grammarians, be warned. The North Yorkshire Council in England announced this week that it is banning apostrophes on street signs, saying the punctuation can negatively affect geographical databases. But locals appeared displeased. “If you start losing things like that, then everything goes downhill, doesn’t it?” resident Anne Keywood told the BBC.