“EASTERN OPENING”
From France, Xi will head to Serbia, and then Hungary from May 8 to May 10.
The visit to the Serbian capital Belgrade will coincide with the anniversary of the 1999 US bombing of the Chinese embassy there – allowing for Xi to send a pointed anti-Western message.
China has invested heavily to expand its economic footprint in central and eastern Europe, including vast battery and electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing plants in Hungary, and copper and gold operations in Serbia.
“The plan to commemorate the … NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy … also paves the way for Putin’s visit to China: NATO is a threat to international security,” said Wang Yiwei, director of the Center for European Union Studies at Renmin University of China.
In Budapest, he will meet Prime Minister Viktor Orban, an avowed nationalist who opposes the official EU position on Russia.
Orban has been championing an “Eastern opening” foreign policy since his return to power in 2010, seeking closer economic ties to China, Russia and other Asian countries.
Despite its small size, the Central European country of 9.6 million people has attracted a flood of major Chinese projects in recent years.
Orban spoke last month spoke about his vision for a “sovereignist world”, where the “global economy is organised non-ideologically along the lines of mutual benefit”.
Assoc Prof Chong from NUS said that Xi likely chose his stops for a reason – to “make things look quite positive” despite ongoing friction.
He also noted that as China eased its COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, Xi was keen on building relations with Europe.
“Now Wang Yi has visited, so I guess the next step is for Xi himself to visit and for him to sort of be the face of the PRC (People’s Republic of China) to try to move ties in a forward direction, especially at a moment where there are lots of differences,” he added.
“I suppose Xi’s visit comes right after (German Chancellor) Olaf Scholz’s visit to the PRC earlier on, and so I guess Beijing must think that there is some positive momentum for them to do more.”
