Russia's and China's Increasing Influence in the Western Balkans
Working Paper #1 The European Union Dilemma: Russia’s and China’s Increasing Influence in the Western Balkans (Case study: Serbia and Montenegro) By Vesko Garčević The Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future Rising Powers Initiative Pardee School of Global Studies Boston University 67 Bay State Road Boston, MA 02215 www.bu.edu/pardee/rpi THE EUROPEAN UNION DILEMMA: RUSSIA’S AND CHINA’S INCREASING INFLUENCE IN THE WESTERN BALKANS The Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University, 2021. Suggested citation: Garcevic, V. (2021). “The European Union Dilemma: Russia’s and China’s Increasing Influence in the Western Balkans.” Rising Powers Initiative, The Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University, 2021. https://www.bu.edu/pardee/files/2021/05/Pardee-RPI-001-May-2021.pdf Keywords: Russia, China, European Union, Soft power, Western Balkans RPI WORKING PAPER #1 2 THE EUROPEAN UNION DILEMMA: RUSSIA’S AND CHINA’S INCREASING INFLUENCE IN THE WESTERN BALKANS Introduction This paper discusses the growing influence and transformative power of Beijing and Moscow in the Western Balkans (WB), particularly as regards Serbia and Montenegro, and its implications for the European Union (EU). It draws upon both primary and secondary sources and narratives currently dominating public discourse in Serbia and Montenegro. A country’s “soft power” rests primarily on three resources: its culture, its political values, and its foreign policies,1 but it cannot exist on its own.
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