The Development of Sino-Serbian Relations under the Belt and Road Initiative: Forging the ‘Iron Friendship’
The Development of Sino-Serbian Relations under the Belt and Road Initiative: Forging the ‘Iron Friendship’

Summary/Abstract: In recent years, Serbia has seemingly been standing out as the leading partnerof China in Central and Eastern Europe, and even – relatively speaking – a significantone on a global scale. The two countries state that they share a close and longstandingfriendship, which is regularly mentioned in the context of joint ‘Belt andRoad Initiative’ projects that are actively being implemented or planned. However,this narrative seems to have emerged – or at least significantly intensified – onlyafter the start of a closer economic cooperation. This paper analyzes the saidchange in discourse, aiming to establish when it occurred and how far its reachis, with the goal of using the answers to these research questions as a basis forunderstanding the underlying governing mechanisms. The hypotheses put forward arethat the discourse on Sino-Serbian cultural ties emphasizing the idea of a close andlong-standing friendship started only after an increase in the political and economiccooperation, and that it is only or mostly present in the official discourse on the twocountries’ cooperation. As such, the narrative on Sino-Serbian cultural ties can beexplained as an example of the top-down governance of culture, which is in linewith the theory on cultural diversity. Tracing the development of Sino-Serbianrelations through empirical data, it is shown that the narrative on close cultural tiesindeed intensified with an increase in economic cooperation and that the notionof a deep friendship between the two countries has been actively managed sincethe start of the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’. The so-called ‘iron friendship’ betweenthe two countries is revealed to be less a deeply-rooted historical reality and morean example of consciously forging a narrative with the purpose of facilitatingbilateral cooperation.

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