Garčević Quoted on China’s Growing Influence in the Balkans
On February 14, 2021, Ambassador Vesko Garčević, Professor of the Practice of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was quoted in a Profil article discussing the impact of the Chinese growing influence in the Balkans.
The article, titled “Small Bottles Make the Friendship Strong,” discusses the Chinese growing footprint in the Balkans and their success with the “vaccine diplomacy.” To date, the Chinese government has sent over a million doses of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine to Serbia, and in this moment, Serbia has one of Europe’s highest vaccination rate.
Garčević commented on the impact increasing Chinese loans to infrastructural projects, heavy industry and non-renewable energy projects in the region as well as the lack of consideration into whether a country can repay those loans. He notes that projects often are linked to high-level corruption that erodes already weak state institutions. This undermines chances to fulfill criteria for the European Union membership and keeps EU perspective away from ordinary citizens.
An excerpt:
Chinese projects in the region are initially praised for providing employment and promoting economic growth. However, there are silver linings; Chinese undertakings in the region often result in degraded working conditions and increased industrial pollution. The recent serious environmental incident in town Smederevo described by environmental activists as an example of “ecological terrorism” is not the only case where projects with Chinese investors don’t take into account environmental impact assessments.
The full article can be read online.
During his diplomatic career, Ambassador Vesko Garčević dealt with issues pertinent to European security and NATO for almost 14 years. In 2004, he was posted in Vienna to serve as Ambassador to Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He had been a Montenegro’s Ambassador to NATO from 2010 until 2014 and served as a Montenegro’s National Coordinator for NATO from 2015 until he joined the faculty at the Pardee School. Learn more about Ambassador Garčević on his faculty profile.