#CoronavirusPandemic #InternationalRelations
Russia, China and the European Union vie in Serbia

As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads, rival powers are deploying soft power and aid to advance their own foreign policy goals in Belgrade, major players are looking to use soft power and aid to fulfil their foreign policy goals.

//First, the Chinese came to Belgrade, with planeloads of equipment and six medical experts to help coordinate national coronavirus policy. An emotional Serbian president kissed the Chinese flag in gratitude and slammed Europe for its lack of assistance; For China, it is changing the narrative to present the country as the solution to COVID-19, not its cause.//

//For Russia, it is using more modest resources for maximum effect, with Russian military vehicles driving through Italy or a planeload of equipment dispatched to the US partly produced by a sanctioned company.//

//For the EU, it is trying to prove that talk of European values and solidarity is not just empty words.//

//The Americans, focused internally under US President Donald Trump’s administration, have largely been absent from the COVID-19 diplomacy game.//

// Serbian officials said the Chinese experts, who have remained in the country, are now running the government’s coronavirus policy. Serbia is following the Chinese model of isolating even mild cases of COVID-19 in large field hospitals, rather than trusting people to self-isolate.//

//A survey carried out in December last year showed that many Serbs believed Russia or China to be the country’s largest donor over the past two decades, while in fact the EU had given about 100 times more than either.//

Source: Taipei Times #Apr14

Full Article:
https://taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2020/04/14/2003734593

#Serbia #China #Russia #Coronavirus #MedicalSupplies