From the Associated Press 11 April 2022, 10:11 • 3 minutes reading Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Email this article BEIJING – China said Monday that its military planes had delivered “regular military supplies” to Serbia, in its first comments on an unusual operation in which six Chinese Air Force Y-20 transport aircraft landed in the northern part of the country. . Foreign Ministry spokesman Zao Lijian told reporters that the operation was part of the two countries’ annual co-operation plan, does not target third parties and “has nothing to do with the current situation”. Zao did not give further details. The arrival of the planes sparked speculation that they were carrying HQ-22 surface-to-air missiles under the terms of a previous agreement signed between the parties. The Serbian Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Associated Press. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic confirmed the handover of the medium-range systems agreed in 2019, saying on Saturday that he would present “the newest pride” of the Serbian army on Tuesday or Wednesday. The covert operation this weekend came amid Western concerns that weapons accumulation in the Balkans at the same time as the war in Ukraine could be threatening the region. Serbia and China have long shared strong ties, in part because of a common contempt for Washington. Serbs resent NATO’s air campaign in 1999 during the conflict in Kosovo, which hit the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. NATO has called the incident, which sparked violent protests in Beijing, a misplaced bombing, an explanation that China and many others have long rejected. Despite claiming to be neutral, China has largely sided with Russia in the Ukraine conflict, and many Serbs are sympathetic to Moscow. Although Serbia voted in favor of UN resolutions condemning Russian attacks on Ukraine, it has refused to participate in international sanctions against its allies in Moscow or to directly criticize the actions of Russian troops there. The apparent arms shipment to Serbia in the territories of at least two NATO member states, Turkey and Bulgaria, was seen by experts as evidence of China’s growing global reach. The weekend flights “could be the largest overseas operation by China’s home-developed large transport aircraft to date, demonstrating the country’s strategic transportation capabilities,” the Communist Party’s Global Times newspaper reported Monday, citing Chinese defense analysts. The Y-20, first delivered to the People’s Liberation Army Air Force in 2015, has been used in the past in missions abroad, including sending 105 members of the PLA Honorary Guard to participate in the Russian Victory Day parade. 2020 in Moscow, and on flights near Taiwan’s airspace to test the self-governing island’s defense and intimidate its democratic government. There are fears in the West that Serbia’s armaments by Russia and China could encourage the Balkan country to move on to another war, especially against the former Kosovo province that declared independence in 2008. Serbia, Russia and China does not recognize the state of Kosovo, while the United States and most Western countries do.
