Serbian president's visit to China holds milestone significance: ambassador

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic's state visit to China from May 24 to 28 marks a major milestone in bilateral ties and is expected to elevate political mutual trust and economic cooperation between the two countries to a new level, said to Li Ming, Chinese ambassador to Serbia.

Serbia is the first European country to build with China a community with a shared future. Vucic is leading a high-level delegation on this visit, reflecting the great importance Serbia attaches to the trip and its high expectations, Li said.

"Head-of-state diplomacy has always played a key role in providing strategic guidance for China-Serbia relations. In May 2024, President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Serbia, announcing the building of the China-Serbia community with a shared future in the new era. Over the past two years, the construction of the China-Serbia community with a shared future has progressed smoothly and yielded fruitful results. With Vucic's current state visit to China, we can expect even more fruitful outcomes in the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries across various fields. The 'ironclad' friendship between our peoples will be further deepened, and political mutual trust will be elevated to a new level. This visit will be of milestone significance," said the ambassador.

Li said he believes Vucic's visit will further unleash the potential for bilateral cooperation, which has broad prospects.

"In the future development of bilateral cooperation, I believe we can move forward on two fronts simultaneously -- infrastructure construction and cutting-edge sectors such as innovative technology, biomedicine, artificial intelligence and robotics. This visit will further stimulate and arouse the enthusiasm of enterprises from both countries to engage in cooperation and exchanges," he said.

The ambassador also pointed out that the friendship between China and Serbia is not only a continuation of history but also a choice of the times for both countries to pursue shared development, stressing that standing together on the right side of history constitutes the most solid foundation of the ironclad friendship between the two countries.

"In 2024, President Vucic said in an interview that he could answer the Taiwan question in ten seconds: Taiwan is part of China. China can achieve national reunification in any way and at any time. It is a matter for the Chinese people themselves. Such a resolute answer reflects Serbia's firm support for China's core interests and sovereign independence. The people of China and Serbia have always stood firmly together on the right side of history. This constitutes the most solid foundation of the two countries' ironclad friendship," Li said.

Highlighting increasing bilateral cultural and people-to-people exchanges, Li expressed confidence that Vucic's current visit will breathe new life into bilateral exchanges and the two countries' ironclad friendship. "In recent years, China and Serbia have established direct flights and a visa-free travel regime, leading to a growing number of Chinese tourists visiting Serbia. At the same time, the Serbian people have shown great interest in the Chinese market. We can expect that the ironclad friendship between the two countries will surely gain new vitality and vigor," said the ambassador.

Serbian president's visit to China holds milestone significance: ambassador

Chinese spacecraft developers have accelerated development of the spacecraft for the country's Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceflight mission by five months — moving its launch from the original schedule in October to late May — achieving greater efficiency without compromising safety or reliability.

According to He Yu, general commander of China's manned spacecraft project of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the accelerated development began shortly after the emergency launch readiness of the Shenzhou-22 last November.

"We have accelerated the development of the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft. It was originally planned for launch in late October, but has now been moved up to late May. In the six months since last November, we have gained five months of progress. This means the pace of work has been quickened by nearly one time," He said.

He further explained that a series of measures to ensure mission success have been adopted alongside the accelerated development, adding multiple layers of assurance.

"We have continued the proven measures that have ensured success in the past, which are fundamentally based on a sound product assurance system and strict process control. We have maintained high-quality assembly operations, continued to implement efficient and high-quality automated testing procedures, adopted a specialized flight control model, and maintained a full-process quality confirmation system to ensure reliability and safety of the product," He said.

The Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship is scheduled to be launched at 23:08 Beijing time (15:08 GMT) on Sunday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.

Chinese astronauts Zhu Yangzhu, Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying will carry out the Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceflight mission, and Zhu will be the commander, the China Manned Space Agency announced at a press conference on Saturday.

Chinese engineers move Shenzhou-23 manned spacecraft mission forward by 5 months while ensuring safety