‘Comrade Xi’ Statue? Serbia Wants to Thank Its Friends in China
The Balkan country has gravitated more toward the east during the pandemic as China wields its soft power.
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First came billions of dollars of investment, then millions of doses of vaccines. Now there’s a campaign for Serbia to thank China in a way that harks back to a bygone era: by building a statue to “Comrade Xi.”
The proposal comes from the fringe New Communist Party of Yugoslavia, which has paid for billboards in Belgrade to rally support for the tribute to the Chinese president to be sited in a local park. While the government hasn’t said if it backs the idea, there’s little doubt that Serbia has gravitated more toward the east than west during the coronavirus pandemic.