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Friday, October 24, 2014

China’s Railway Diplomacy in the Balkans

China’s Railway Diplomacy in the Balkans

Publication: China Brief Volume: 14 Issue: 20
October 23, 2014 04:42 PM Age: 7 hrs
Hungarian, Serbian and Chinese leaders shake hands at the ceremony announcing their agreement for the new Hungaro-Serbian High-Speed Railway (HSR) project.
In November 2013, China, Serbia and Hungary signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the construction of the Hungaro-Serbian High-Speed Railway (HSR), connecting Belgrade and Budapest by rail to facilitate transporting Chinese exports from Greek ports to European markets. First proposed by Beijing in February 2013, the contract is expected to be finalized during the China-Central and Eastern European (CEE) Summit in Belgrade this December, with construction set to begin in 2015 and finish by 2017 (Dnevnik, February 22, 2013; Government of Republic of Serbia, September 11). The two billion euro ($2.5 billion) project, financed by soft loans from China’s Export-Import Bank and built by state-owned China Railway and Construction Corporation (CRCC), represents the changing face of China’s relations with CEE countries and will serve as a staging ground for greater Chinese access to Western Europe, for both commerce and infrastructure projects (Tanjug, September 9; Politika, September 11).


http://www.jamestown.org/programs/chinabrief/single/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=42992&tx_ttnews[backPid]=25&cHash=917c0f1cafc5d5bb305c51f6c751426b#.VEnVzee7n8F

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