China-Serbia friendship grows stronger with fruitful results

The friendship between China and Serbia has withstood the test of changing international landscape and grown stronger, setting a fine example of friendly relations between China and European countries.

Within the context of such continued favorable development of China-Serbia relations, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Belgrade on Tuesday to pay a state visit to Serbia -- the second leg of his current three-nation Europe tour, which has taken him to France, and which will also take him to Hungary.

In a written statement delivered upon the arrival at the airport, Xi expressed the confidence that his current visit will be a fruitful one and will open up a new chapter in China-Serbia relations.

Xi said he looks forward to taking this visit as an opportunity to have in-depth exchange of views with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on bilateral relationship and other issues of mutual interest, renew friendship, plan for future cooperation, explore further development, and draw up a new blueprint for the development of bilateral relations.

Xi's current visit to Serbia marks the second of its kind to the Balkan country in eight years, and his first visit took place in 2016.

During that visit, Xi accompanied by Vucic, then prime minister of Serbia, visited the Smederevo Steelworks.

Situated by the scenic Danube River, the company had long been hailed as a pride of Serbia before it slid to bankruptcy more than two decades ago.

Thanks to the deepening of the high-quality Belt and Road cooperation between China and Serbia, the century-old factory made a remarkable comeback in 2016 when its Chinese partner arrived.

In just a couple of months, the steel mill started turning a profit. It has now become one of the world's largest iron and steel makers and integrated service providers measured by production capacity.

Also in 2016, China and Serbia agreed to upgrade their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership in a show of their shared commitment to further deepening bilateral cooperation for mutual benefit.

Serbia is an important partner of China under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Vucic has attended all the three editions of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held in China in 2017, 2019 and 2023 respectively.

In September 2018, Xi met with Vucic, who was in China to attend the Summer Davos Forum annual meeting in Tianjin.

Hailing the traditional friendship and deep trust between China and Serbia, Xi said the two countries have seen fruitful outcomes from pragmatic cooperation.

A friend in need is a friend indeed. In the face of difficulties and challenges, the Chinese and Serbian peoples have always supported each other through thick and thin.

When the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc across the world, China extended timely help to Serbia by providing it with protective equipment, medical instruments, vaccines, and even by dispatching medical professionals to help it contain the pandemic.

In March 2020, a group Chinese medical experts sent to help Serbia in fighting the COVID-19 was warmly greeted by Vucic upon the arrival in Belgrade.

"China has been our friend for centuries, and our friendship will be passed on for hundreds, and even thousands of years," said Vucic.

In about two years, Vucic traveled to China to attend the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games opening ceremony.

Xi met with Vucic in Beijing on Feb 5, 2022, saying the ironclad friendship between China and Serbia will certainly stay strong as it has weathered the test of changing situations.

"There is no doubt that our ironclad relationship gets even more solid after every challenge and test," Xi said.

The friendship between the Chinese and Serbian peoples has developed into a robust bond that transcends time and space. As Xi stated in his signed article, the tree of China-Serbia friendship will grow tall and sturdy and bear more fruits for the two peoples.

China-Serbia friendship grows stronger with fruitful results

The bustling Xiushui Business Street (Silk Street) in Beijing is experiencing a significant surge in visits paid by international tourists, thanks to the country's implementation of visa-free policy.

The business street, known for its array of shops selling a wide range of souvenirs and gifts and a vibrant shopping atmosphere, is among the top destinations for visitors from abroad.

Since earlier this year, China has implemented a visa-free policy that exempts many European ordinary passport holders from the time-consuming and costly obligation, encouraging travelers from nearly a dozen European countries to explore this Asian country. It allows ordinary passport holders of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Malaysia, Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, and Luxembourg, to enter and stay in China visa-free for up to 15 days for business, tourism, transit, as well as visiting relatives and friends .

Against such a backdrop, the business street, with a spike in international tourist arrivals, has offered popular options with distinctive Beijing features to foreign visitors.

"From January to April this year, the combined number of overseas tourists we received was expected to increase by nearly 20 times from the previous year. We've selected a batch of souvenirs that can represent Beijing for our customers, so as to make each and every of them happy," said Dong Qing, an employee of the business street.

Ibeku hailing from Nigeria was on a business trip to Beijing. She came to the business street to tailor a suit of Nigerian traditional costume with Chinese silk.

"First of all, I love fashion. So if we have Chinese silk [and] Nigerian style [together], that's like a mix of cultures, and that's what we are all hoping to get this day," she said.

Taking into account the tight schedule of foreign customers, many merchants reduce the time it takes to craft bespoke garments from the traditional four to five days down to an impressive 18 hours.

Furthermore, they also provide global mailing services for international customers who express concern about limited luggage space or tight travel schedules.

According to data released by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, the capital city received 469,000 inbound tourist arrivals in the first quarter of this year, up by 3.1 times year on year, and the foreign exchange income of tourism is 650 million U.S. dollars, a year-on-year growth of 225.8 percent.

Xiushui Business Street thrives with influx of foreign tourists under visa-free policy