{"id":7455,"date":"2022-01-27T16:38:33","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T14:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/?p=7455"},"modified":"2022-01-27T16:38:45","modified_gmt":"2022-01-27T14:38:45","slug":"chinese-%ce%b9nfluence-in-the-balkans-is-constantly-growing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/?p=7455","title":{"rendered":"Chinese \u0399nfluence in the Balkans is Constantly Growing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Central to the East-West crossroads, the “backyard of Europe” as the Balkans are called, has always attracted the interest of large geopolitical areas, which until the collapse of the bipolar world were defined as the West (US-Western Europe) and the Soviet Union. The two superpowers controlled the Balkan Channel on the basis of the Yalta Treaty, and no one else dared to play on the Balkan field. Now, for a few years now, other, strong and ambitious suitors have been competing, claiming a share of influence with the aim of promoting their interests in the interior of Central and Eastern Europe to the Caucasus and Central Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tug-of-war between the West and Russia over control of the Balkans is being challenged mainly by the “yellow threat”. Driven by the well-known Asian method and patience, the Chinese are moving to the Balkans, intervening with infrastructure projects and, more recently, with “vaccine diplomacy” after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the Balkan Road to European markets is not paved with “silk crap” or rose petals for the Chinese. For Americans and Europeans already opposed to Russian penetration, China and the Balkans are emerging as the biggest threat. Americans, Russians, Europeans, Turks, Arabs, and even Japanese are crowded over the “Balkan pie”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China and<\/strong> its penetration<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

China is invading at all levels, aiming to make the Balkans its springboard to the “Silk Road” for Europe. It settles in ports, finances the construction of major highways, buys railways to transport cargo by combined transport system, exercises “vaccine diplomacy” on the occasion of the pandemic. The tactic is simple: it lends generously and on burdensome terms to the Balkans, who are tasked with projects for the construction of which it seems to be workers from the Far East, and of course the consideration is not limited to the economic level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serbia has so far become the “yellow bridge” and the model of the Chinese presence in Southeast Europe. In a European Commission report in 2020 (https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/neighbourhood-enlargement\/system\/files\/2020-10\/montenegro_report_2020.pdf<\/a>), the EU expressed concern about China’s growing influence in Serbia and other countries of the Western Balkans. Especially in terms of the lack of transparency and the assessment of the social and environmental impact and the loans in Serbia, they are partying with the undamaged and of course threatening to displace even the traditional Russian influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chinese loans drive the Serbian economy by financing major public works and buying mines, and large companies. From Russia, which is not in a good mood at the momentum of China’s invasion, Serbia is buying weapons, gas and oil. For the past nine years, all major infrastructure projects in Serbia have been financed by loans from China and have been outsourced to Chinese companies with workers coming from China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a few years, Serbia’s debt to China will skyrocket. In eastern Serbia, the Chinese took over the copper mines in the town of Bor, but residents have revolted as no environmental metro is observed. Loans, of course, have a price, which is not just financial. Those who receive them and are late in repaying them suffer from the so-called “debt blackmail” from China. Serbia is the only country in the Western Balkans that has not backed EU resolutions that are critical of China, whether it is a violation of human rights and political issues, or Chinese interests in Hong Kong and Tibet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not only Serbia that is in the grip of Chinese debt. China holds 1\/3 of Montenegro’s total debt, whose government has borrowed several million euros to build a highway in the mountains from Chinese companies. Only the project is provocatively delayed and the Chinese put the knife to the Montenegrins to start repaying the loan but there is no money. The government has appealed to the EU for help, but Brussels officials have said that “politically we want to help but the size of the loan is disproportionate to the size of the economy, so the mechanisms are not yet clear.” If Montenegro does not repay the loan, the terms of the contract give China the right to claim land in exchange !!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia and<\/strong> its penetration<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Russians are struggling to keep the US and NATO away from their vital space and are working to prevent the Western Balkans from joining Western institutions and their umbrella of influence. They use this powerful Slavic element in the name of which Russia has historically played a role in the Balkans, as well as the Orthodox Church, which has always operated under the blessing and subordination of the Moscow Patriarchate. Above all, however, Russia is using its strong paper, which is the dependence of the Balkan states on its natural gas and less on oil, a field in which there is a fierce conflict with the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The presence of US in West Balkans<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Americans are raising a defensive shield of influence on the East Coast of the Adriatic Sea and on the shores of the Aimos Peninsula to prevent the Russian descent into the Mediterranean. American stations for the transportation of liquefied shale gas and their promotion in the markets of Central and Eastern Europe in exchange for Russian energy influence and geopolitical blackmail of Russia, are located in the ports of Alexandroupoli (Greece), Durres (Albania) and Split (Croatia). All this with the simultaneous strengthening of the military presence and NATO from Albania to the shores of the Black Sea, which greatly irritates the President of Russia Vladimir Putin and of course the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan regarding the use of the port of Alexandroupolis (Greece) and in general the defense shield of Greece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Turkey and Hungary go hand in hand in the Balkans<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkey and Hungary also cook in Balkan cuisine. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan traveled to Tirana (Albania) earlier this week to distribute apartments to earthquake victims and reassure Albanians that he remains the “Big Brother” and protector of them, as well as other Muslim populations in the Balkans, which he uses as a vehicle to expand his vision of the “Blue Homeland”. Erdogan’s visit to Albania has a specific reason given that the United States has announced that Albania is now becoming the headquarters of its military special forces for Europe, while Hulusi Akar (the Turkish Foreign Minister) has just returned from a trip to Bosnia and Cossovo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is slowly but methodically descending on the Balkans, banning his own national populist authoritarian model of government and handing out European money to Milorad Dodik-type leaders in the Bosnian Serb Republic in the late, 100millions euros!! In fact, Victor Orban is considered by the Western press to be the main suspect in the recent non-paper trafficking for the dissolution of Bosnia and changes in the current border map.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EU<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The European Union seems to be lagging behind in the race for competition in the Balkans. Its attractive power, especially after its reluctance to accept the Western Balkan states, has spread frustration among its peoples, has almost disappeared and no one believes in its power. One after another, the powerful countries of Europe take care to make their presence distinct and to take special initiatives, leaving aside Brussels after their wishes and meaningless declarations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just last week, Britain deployed a special envoy to the Western Balkans in Tirana, while Germany pursued its own policy through the Berlin process and France did the same, as evidenced by the accession veto for northern Macedonia and Albania against the will of the Commission. Close by, both Austria, which is trying to revitalize the remaining “aura” of Austria-Hungary, especially in Bosnia, and Bulgaria, which does not hesitate to bring back to the European debate nightmarish visions of the 19th century.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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