Budapest-Belgrade railway
upgrade and Serbian bridge
construction
Antea Pamuković, Monika Nowakowska, Sonia Sobolewska
IRE213: A New Player in Town: China's Growing Role in Central Europe
Bilateral relations
between Serbia
and China
 1 October 1949
 as a result of the conflicts with
the USSR and the Cominform
States, inter-state relations
were established only in 1955
 August 25, 2009. - Boris Tadic
signed the Agreement on
Strategic Partnership
between the two countries
 Serbia has "four pillars" of
foreign policy
 16 + 1 summit in Belgrade,
December 2014
 Serbia supports a One China policy
 China has not recognizedthe
independence of the Autonomous
Province of Kosovo
 NR China is the largest economic partner
of Serbia in Asia
 "200 years ago there was a wise but
illiterate man in our country, and he was
a prophet. He never heard of China, but
said: people from the East will come,
yellow people, and will reign over the
world and they would drink water from
Serbian Morave River"
 "There is also their Silk Road - the lease of
the Piraeus port in Athens and road
construction is a strategy that goes
beyond Serbia. The Chinesehave a very
offensive approach, they have dragged
the dragon out of their way and they are
great"
PUPIN BRIDGE
 'China- Serbian Friendship
Bridge'
 December 2014
 China Road and Bridge
Corporation
WHO PAID FOR IT?
 233 Chinese staff
 718 Serbian staff
WHO BUILT IT?
Belgrade –
Budapest
Railway
Initiative
 High-speed rail corridor
 Balkan Silk Road
 Land Sea Express Route
 proposed by ChinesePresident XiJinping
2013
 ancient Silk Road from Asia to Europe
and Africa – economic vision
Land Sea
Express Route
Hungary, Serbia, Macedonia,
Greecee
2013 Li Keqiang, Viktor Orban and Ivica Dacic
2015 Li Keqiang, Viktor Orban,Aleksandar Vucic
Serbian Trains 40km/h
(~25mph)
2017 Belgrade – Stara Pazova
False information
 Maximum speed 160km/h
(~99mph) not 200 km/h
(~124mph) as it was stated in
the media
 The trip will take 3.5h (now +/-
8h) not less than 3 h
Timeline
2013 2015 2017
20212023/24
1. Proposal of the "Belt and Road
Initiative"+ agreement on
modernization the BelgradeBudapest
railway
2. Originally set to start, expected to
be completedin 2017...
3. Tripartite agreement
4. The actual start of the project
5. Belgrade – Stara Pazova segment
(34,5 km long)
6. Start of the actual construction
on both sides – 2021
7. Expected completiondate
Costs
 Project worth US$ 3 bn
 Mostly financed by China; Exim Bank
of China
 Serbian part – 200 km long
 Hungarian part – 152 km long
 Built by – China Railway Group
Limited
EU Concerns
 Serbia is not an EU member state
 Hungary has a lot of problems with the EU
Commission
 2017 – investigation
Serbia
•Reduce travel
time
•Developing
country
•Elevate the status
•Boost of the
economic growth
•Connecting the
country with the
rest of Europe
China
•Speedup
transportation
of Chinese goods
•Opportunity to
win more tenders
in the future
•Connect the
economy and
industry centers
Hungary
•Reduce travel
time
•Upgrade of the
railway route
•Will not connect
Hungarian cities
•Belgrade is not a
priority city for
Hungary
Pros & Cons
Other Chinese Projects
* Transport * Energy *Industrial production
 2017 – the modernization of the Kostolac thermo-powerstation (of a new
powerunit) started
 In 2016 - the acquisition of the Serbian steel mill Zelezara Smederevo
 The enlargement of the Drmno mine (coal)
 Chinese companies are building key rapid traffic routes in Macedonia and
Montenegro
 Buildingsections of the highways part of the Pan-European Corridors X
Sources:
 http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-02/08/c_136039012.htm
 https://thediplomat.com/2018/01/who-benefits-from-the-chinese-built-hungary-
serbia-railway/
 http://english.gov.cn/premier/news/2015/11/25/content_281475241762006.htm
 http://www.xinhuanet.com//english/2017-03/22/c_136148007.htm
 https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/Areas/Serbia/China-goes-to-Serbia-
infrastructure-and-politics-185401
 https://mightynose.wordpress.com/2018/05/22/a-pro-chinese-pivot-is-the-last-
chance-to-save-serbia/