China-Serbia relations: "It's going from strength to strength"

CGTN Europe interviewed Vuk Jeremić, former Serbian Foreign Minister

Transcript

00:00 Chinese President Xi Jinping is back in Beijing after his European visit.

00:05 He received a warm welcome in Serbia, whose former foreign minister spoke to CGTN's Juliette

00:10 Man about Belgrade's relations with the EU.

00:15 Serbia is, as you say, a candidate for membership in the European Union, but my opinion is that

00:22 the enlargement of the European Union has been put on hold and this is going to stay

00:30 that way for quite some while.

00:33 I don't think that there will be new members of the European Union anytime soon, and first

00:38 and foremost for the internal reasons of political developments, if you will, inside the European

00:46 Union.

00:48 So I think that it's rather unpredictable as to when and if Serbia will join the European

00:55 Union, and it's completely not unpredictable, our relationship with China.

01:01 Our relationship with China is very predictable, very clear.

01:05 It's only going to become stronger and go from a strength to a strength.

01:11 Now it is a complicated world.

01:13 We live in a time of geopolitical recession, and we're all acutely aware of that.

01:19 So China's approach globally is enshrined in the three global initiatives of China.

01:27 The global development initiative, the global security initiative, and the global civilizational

01:31 initiative is something that Serbia truly respects and supports.

01:39 And as a matter of fact, during President Xi's visit to Belgrade this week, Serbia formally

01:47 supported and joined those global initiatives, which I think tells volumes about our relationship

01:55 for the future in the multipolar world.