Although it is formally seeking European Union membership, Serbia has been hedging its bets by also opening up channels between Russia and China, nations that have supported Serbia’s claim to its former province of Kosovo.
Serbia is in The Balkans, a region of the world well known to strategic military analysts. At the edge of Europe but close to Asia, it is a buffer between these cultures. And as China is currently receiving a cool welcome in Europe, Serbia presents a strategic ally in the area; one that currently needs a big friend. (Serbia is a new country that was formerly part of Communist Yugoslavia, so the friendship between it and China goes back to the Cold War.) The two countries signed a security agreement earlier this year and Serbia has been openly buying military weapons from China.
Now comes news from AP Archive on YOU TUBE (above) that Serbian and Chinese security forces held a joint anti-terrorist drill in Serbia at the end of November 2019.
This drill was apparently held at a China-owned steel mill near Belgrade. It is believed to be the first such drill to feature Chinese SWAT forces in a European country.