Tragedies do not stop dubious cooperation – Serbia deepens debt, China takes the profit, money is taken from citizens

Tragedies don’t stop dubious cooperation – Serbia deepens debt, China takes the profit, money is taken from citizens

Despite the tragedy in Novi Sad, where 16 people lost their lives, Serbia continues its course of close cooperation with China on infrastructure projects, often unclear and lacking transparency. Chinese state-owned banks provide “favorable” loans to the Serbian government. With these loans, the works are carried out only by Chinese companies – without public tenders, without competition and often without independent control over the cost or quality of the works. The projects are built with the money of Serbian citizens, the money ends up in the accounts of Chinese companies.

The recent collapse of a canopy at the Novi Sad railway station, built by a Chinese company, has once again raised important questions about how Serbia cooperates with China on infrastructure projects. The incident, which claimed 16 lives, is not just a technical or engineering issue – it is a symptom of a much deeper and contentious relationship between the two countries.

In the last decade, according to Radar, Serbia has become a strategic point on the global map of China’s expansion through the “One Belt, One Road” initiative – a modern version of the Silk Road. Highways, bridges and railway lines are being built at a rapid pace throughout the country, giving the impression of development and modernization. But behind these grandiose projects, there is a relationship where China’s benefits are much greater than those of Serbia – which, in addition to financing these projects itself through public debt, leaves local companies and workers out of the process.

The model of cooperation is almost always the same: Chinese state-owned banks provide “favorable” loans to the Serbian government. These loans finance large infrastructure projects, but the work is carried out exclusively by Chinese companies – without public tenders, without competition, and often without independent control over the cost or quality of the works.

In practice, this means that money from Serbia’s budget ends up in the accounts of Chinese companies, while the debt remains at the expense of the state and its citizens. Some of these projects are even overpaid and have minimal involvement of local businesses or workers.

For China, these projects are not just road construction – according to Radar, China considers them part of a geopolitical strategy aimed at connecting it to European markets through an infrastructure network that crosses the Balkans. Serbia, at the heart of this region, is, according to the medium, ideally positioned to build new trade corridors for Chinese goods.

The highways connecting Belgrade with Montenegro, North Macedonia, Hungary and Bosnia and Herzegovina are not being built just for the needs of domestic traffic, but as part of a transit corridor for Chinese trade to the West. In essence, China is building its “New Silk Road” with the money of other countries – in the case of Serbia, with the money of its citizens.

One of the most problematic points of these agreements is the lack of transparency. The terms of Chinese loans are often unknown to the public. There are no public tenders, no independent control over costs and in many cases, there is no accountability for the quality of the works. The collapse of the canopy at the Resnik station is a concrete indicator of this problem.

This approach, according to the media outlet, risks Serbia losing control over the construction of its strategic infrastructure.