Despite all these reactions from the international community, but also of the general public in Serbia, which revealed the truth that it is not a matter of donating respirators, but a procurement with state money of the Serbian citizens, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic announced that after the epidemic, her country will build a monument of appreciation for China.
Serbia praised China’s big help to fight the coronavirus. On March 21, 2020, a grandiose ceremony was held at the Belgrade airport, where the first cargo plane from China arrived.
Aleksandar Vucic, along with the Chinese ambassador to his country, held a press conference praising the Chinese state and people for the alleged “donation” of respirators and other medical supplies. Vucic in his statement praised the ruling party in China and its “generosity”, portraying it as a friendly country with which Serbia has a “steel friendship”.
Alexander Vucic on the Airport Runway on March 21, 2020,
(45.07) – “Big thanks to President Xi Jinping, big thanks to the Communist Party of China, big thanks to the people of the People’s Republic of China … Our plane today managed to deliver only a portion of the aid, our other A320 aircraft is already in China and transports the other goods. Everything that is in China on our plane is everything that has arrived, it is a free donation from the Republic of China, so I thank them very much … “(27:98) -” China which has not yet completed its fight said let’s also help our steel friends. Let’s give them some of our respirators. Serbia must not forget this. China has been our friend since forever, for 100, 1000 years and more it proved to be our friend in our hardest times,” said Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on March 21, 2020.
Is it really about Chinese aid and how much propaganda is there?
Vucic’s praise of the Chinese state did not last long as journalists in Serbia began investigating and asking him about the alleged “donation” to eventually elicit a response where he admits that it was not aid but a procurement from the Serbian budget. Alexander Vucic admitted after just two days after the ceremony that respirators, masks and other things needed to fight the coronavirus were purchased with money from Serbian citizens, and only a small portion was a Chinese donation.
Vucic’s pretext is that it was enough that the Chinese authorities allowed them access to respirators and other medical supplies, as they couldn’t achieve even that with the other countries. Only China was willing to sell them respirators.
The conference of the President and Prime Minister of Serbia on March 23, where he admits that the materials are not a donation but only a small part is a donation and the other is purchased with money from Serbian citizens
01:30 “I’m so grateful to everyone who helped us, no one procures respirators, because today the respirators are like gold. Nobody wants to sell them, and the Chinese have given us a certain amount. We bought some of them, and when you ask where we can buy more, it is still very difficult to do, but again the answer is China,” said Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
However, the undeniable fact is that at the Airport Vucic said it was a free donation, while in the end he denied himself.
Diplomat Carl Bildt, responded to the grandiose welcome of China’s alleged donation to Serbia through his Twitter account, saying that Serbia was praising Chinese aid, and not mentioning the EU aid. Bildt re-tweeted the head of the EU delegation, Sam Fabrizi, in which he wrote about the shipment of aid that arrived in Belgrade from the EU, as the first part of a 93 million euro aid package for the Serbian people.
The reaction was commented by Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, who instead of apologizing for not mentioning and “glorifying” the EU, accused Bildt of publishing false news because she said the plane was not a full aid by the EU, but only the transport was paid for by the EU, while there was Chinese aid in the plane.
But Bildt is not the only one to criticize “Serbia’s steel friendship with China”. The nongovernmental sector and a big part of the media have called Serbia’s act “turning a back to the EU” and befriending its geopolitical opponent, China.
Despite all these reactions from the international community, but also of the general public in Serbia, which revealed the truth that it is not a matter of donating respirators, but a procurement with state money of the Serbian citizens, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic announced that after the epidemic, her country will build a monument of appreciation for China.
Judging by the abovementioned facts, does Serbia make propaganda for China, and against the EU?
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