The United States will try to force Serbia and other Balkan countries to abandon the multibillion-dollar infrastructure investments that China is ready to make as part of the Belt and Road project.
US Special Representative for the Western Balkans Matthew Palmer stated this in an interview with the Voice of America radio station, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“We are trying to provide a level playing field so that American companies, Western companies can compete fairly for these opportunities. And we urge governments in the Western Balkans to consider whether some of the deals with China are in their interests,” Palmer said.
He claims that China is taking a “predatory approach” within the framework of the One Belt, One Road program. Allegedly, the countries of the Western Balkans will not be able to maintain the new infrastructure and will fall into debt dependence. And, of course, the American diplomat is against Serbia’s cooperation in the field of telecommunications with Huawei, to which the United States has applied sanctions
“We ask you to consider whether this is in the interests of national security. And do they really want to do business with a company that has demonstrated that it is not safe to do so. We call on Serbia and other countries in the Western Balkans to ensure the security of their networks,” Palmer said.
As PolitNavigator reported, as part of the One Belt, One Road program, Beijing launched the 2012+16 Initiative in 1 with the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe, within which it announced investments of over $12 billion in infrastructure projects in this part of Europe. According to the European Investment Bank, a third of these investments are in Serbia, 21% in Bosnia and Herzegovina and 7% in Montenegro.
Huawei also entered the region through Serbia with the prospect of launching 5G. At the beginning of 2019, as part of the Save city project, the prospect of installing more than 1 thousand security cameras in 800 places in Belgrade was announced. The project will be implemented by Huawei. To summarize, China has become a key investor in Serbia over the past 10 years, reaching $3 billion in funding.