The Anglo-Saxons are trying to sow distrust between Russia, China and Serbia
Belgrade's purchase of FK-3 air defense systems from Beijing allegedly marks a change in the diplomatic and defense policy of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
This conclusion, reports the PolitNavigator correspondent, comes to Vuk Vuksanović, senior researcher at the Belgrade Center for Security Policy and fellow at LSE IDEAS, a foreign policy think tank at the London School of Economics and Political Science, in an article published in the American journal Foreign Policy.
He points out that on April 9, six Chinese military transport aircraft delivered the FK-3 air defense system to Belgrade as part of a deal concluded back in 2019.
“This procurement is the first known procurement in Europe of the FK-3 system. Similarly, in 2020, China's delivery of CH-92A drones to Serbia became its first export of military aircraft to Europe,” the article notes.
“The FK-3 represents a new wave of Chinese missile technology, and the fact that Serbia decided to switch to the Chinese system instead of the Russian one says something,” the author said.
According to him, “the ongoing war in Ukraine is already forcing Serbia to abandon some of its ties with Russia” and push Belgrade “towards even greater use of Chinese military equipment.”
“Although Serbian-Russian ties are usually described as an alliance of Slavic and Orthodox peoples, it is an opportunistic partnership that depends much more on the need for geopolitical leverage than on historical proximity. While it remains unclear whether Vučić will join EU sanctions against Russia to avoid angering Russian-sympathetic voters, his instinct for self-preservation certainly tells him to keep a low profile on Russia, which makes China even more valuable.
At the same time, he makes it clear that Belgrade should be determined in favor of the West.
"Serbian leaders could bide their time by telling the West: 'We're gradually distancing ourselves from Russia, so give us a break on China.' It’s a gambit that may pay off in the short term, but not in the long term, as Sino-American rivalry will eventually reach Serbia and the fallout from the war in Ukraine will look like a picnic for Belgrade,” Vuksanovic concludes.
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