China’s political and economic influence in the Western Balkans continues to rise, raising international concerns about the rapid expansion of Chinese communist power in the Balkans. State Department officials say the United States is prioritizing how to respond to China’s economic statecraft.
The Communist Party’s Belt and Road has brought investment to many countries, but has put Communist funds in the hands of many strategically important infrastructures, while also creating many debt traps. Matthew D. Steinhelfer, acting principal deputy director of the State Department’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, expressed his concerns about the expansion of Chinese influence in the Western Balkans at a March 2 seminar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington think tank. He said the United States is concerned that the Chinese Communist Party is using murky trade practices and opaque investments to gain control of key industries, sensitive technologies and infrastructure projects in Europe.
“Communist corruption and repressive politics have distanced the Western Balkans from other EU member states, which has further exacerbated the prevalence of low governance standards and exacerbated endemic corruption. Instead of contributing to the stability of the region, what the CCP is doing threatens to destabilize the region through digital threats and environmental degradation.” So said Steinhefer in his opening remarks at the seminar.
Matthew D. Steinhelfer, acting principal deputy director of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, addresses concerns about the expansion of Chinese Communist Influence in the Western Balkans during a March 2 seminar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington think tank. (Video screenshot)
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) released its third report in a series analyzing Chinese Communist economic influence in the Western Balkans on March 2, assessing the potential risks posed by the Communist Party’s presence in the region’s transportation, energy projects, and information and communications technology projects according to five “red flags. The five red flags are government corruption and governance, economic and debt sustainability, environmental impact, EU integration, and digital security.
Report co-author Heather Conley, senior deputy director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, noted that the lack of transparency in Chinese Communist Party investment projects in the Western Balkans, or the lack of objective and credible assessments, affects the future economic debt of the region as well as environmental protection.
“One of the signals we’re seeing is that you’re never going to see the agreements (signed between the Chinese Communist Party and the governments of the region), you’re not going to know the terms. There is no congressional or civil society oversight of these agreements, which is shocking to me.” Conley said.
A report in Hong Kong‘s Asia Times late last year cited data from the Danish environmental NGO VedvarendeEnergi indicating that Beijing‘s coal power investments in the western Balkans have tripled since 2016, while those in Bosnia investment in Bosnia has also doubled. And Chinese investment in Bosnia’s largest coal-fired power plants is more likely to violate EU regulations and exacerbate air pollution in the region, putting these countries at the top of the list of Europe’s worst air polluters.
Tena Prelec, a researcher at the University of Oxford’s Politics and International Relations (DPIR) in the United Kingdom, analyzed that governments and leaders in the Western Balkans are consolidating their influence and strengthening their grip on the country through Chinese funding, so it is increasingly unlikely that these countries will undertake reforms as well.
“The political elite has the ability to further strengthen their control over the country, not only through these money from (China’s) opaque deals, but also by using the political narrative to create the image of a friendly country (China) coming to the snow.”
The Serbian president criticized the EU for restricting medical equipment exports, calling it “fake solidarity” and praising China as “the only country that has helped us” as the new coronavirus spread in Europe last March and the Chinese Communist Party sent massive amounts of medical aid to Serbia. Prelec noted that the arrival of Chinese vaccines, which began to be widely reported in Serbian media earlier this year, has been the perfect tool to strengthen relations between the two countries.
Conley agrees. She noted that the Chinese Communist Party’s vaccine diplomacy has made leaders in the region think about “who is my friend,” which in turn has allowed China to expand its power in the Western Balkans. In addition, she called on the U.S. and European countries to urgently engage in environmental protection and anti-corruption dialogues with countries in the region, to set higher environmental standards to reduce environmental pollution in the region, and to work with the Western Balkans through the democracy and rule of law that Western countries follow to counter the economic threat and authoritarian expansion of the Chinese Communist Party in the region.
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