{"id":158784,"date":"2021-05-11T11:41:41","date_gmt":"2021-05-11T11:41:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=197215"},"modified":"2021-05-11T11:41:41","modified_gmt":"2021-05-11T11:41:41","slug":"china-deepens-its-balkans-ties-using-serbian-universities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/05\/11\/china-deepens-its-balkans-ties-using-serbian-universities\/","title":{"rendered":"China Deepens Its Balkans Ties Using Serbian Universities"},"content":{"rendered":"
BELGRADE — With a Chinese university project in Hungary drawing controversy over a lack of transparency and concerns about academic freedom, Beijing’s influence in higher education in neighboring Serbia continues to grow.<\/p>\n
A strategic agreement signed between Hungary and Shanghai’s prestigious Fudan University in April made international headlines and sparked a backlash at home.<\/p>\n
The decision to build a Budapest campus by 2024 using a $1.5 billion loan from a Chinese bank put a spotlight on Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s close ties to Beijing and raised concerns about the long-term impact of such a project on the country’s higher-education system.<\/p>\n
But in Serbia — where Beijing enjoys a close relationship with President Aleksandar Vucic and has been steadily deepening its ties over the last two decades — growing cooperation with Chinese universities and schools continues unabated.<\/p>\n
Currently, three Serbian universities — the University of Belgrade, the University of Novi Sad, and the University of Nis — have signed a cooperation agreement with Shanghai’s Jiao Tong University, opening the door to deepening educational and cultural bonds between Serbia and China.<\/p>\n
The agreements, which were signed in 2018, set up broad terms for cooperation that can grow deeper over time. They include new student and staff exchanges and scholarships, as well as growing Chinese financial support and Chinese-language classes.<\/p>\n
In addition to the agreements with public universities, Serbia also hosts two Confucius Institutes, in Belgrade and Novi Sad. The government-run entities, which offer language and cultural programs abroad, have been accused by critics of being a means for Beijing to spread propaganda<\/a><\/strong> under the guise of teaching and to interfere with free speech on campuses.<\/p>\n Vucic has cemented relations with Beijing, cooperating on infrastructure, tourism, and technology projects that have brought in more than $10 billion in foreign direct investment since 2005. But the growing education and cultural focus represents a new phase of Chinese engagement in the Balkans and Europe more broadly.<\/p>\n “It’s a textbook example of a soft-power move,” Stefan Vladisavljev, an analyst at the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence, told RFE\/RL. “While China is still trailing countries like Russia [in the Balkans], this can bring a lot of people closer to Beijing. The idea is to make China more accessible and more familiar and leave an imprint on society as well.”<\/p>\n Serbia is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and one of the main cheerleaders of the 17+1 format, a Beijing-led forum launched in 2012 for China to engage with Central and Eastern European countries.<\/p>\n But China’s strong ties with Belgrade, analysts say, have allowed Serbia to function as an economic, political, and economic hub for Beijing to expand across the Western Balkans and serve as a showcase for the merits of Chinese initiatives, from surveillance to cooperation on the coronavirus pandemic<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n “Serbia is a poster child of cooperation in the region and one of the countries that Beijing points to when it wants to show what a successful relationship can look like,” Vladisavljev said.<\/p>\n Deepening Ties<\/strong><\/big><\/p>\n As Tena Prelec, a researcher at the University of Oxford, told RFE\/RL’s Balkan Service, Beijing’s growing imprint on Serbian higher education should be seen in the wider context of China investing in universities across the globe as part of a broader effort promote its culture, language, and international ties.<\/p>\nSubscribe To Our New China Newsletter<\/h3>\n