Serbia:Gratitude to China for Selfless Aid to Fight Coronavirus

Shen Fang,Associate Research Fellow,CPAPD

Serbia is one of the European countries with COVID-19 early outbreak. The confirmed patients have already amounted to over 900 by March 31, 2020. On March 15,Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said at the press conference that facing the coronavirus crises,the only country that Serbia was able to rely on was China, not any European country.He was emotional with sobs, and said,“By now you all understand that great international solidarity does not exist. European solidarity does not exist.” “It was a fairy tale on paper.Today I have sent a special letter to the only ones who can help,and that is China.”He then said he had asked Chinese President Xi Jinping “not only as a dear friend, but as a brother” to provide Serbia sorely needed medical supplies. Serbia’s long time goal is to join in the EU. But President Vucic’s request to get medical support from the EU before his press conference was denied by the latter.The EU has even banned its members from exporting medical equipments to non-member states.

China responded to President Vucic’s request actively. Chinese medical team consisted of 6 experts arrived at Belgrade International Airport at 19:30 local time on March. 21, by a special airplane with tons of ventilators, masks and testing kits which the Chinese government urgently collected for Serbia. President Vucic and his colleagues like minister of health and minister of defense waited to welcome the Chinese medical team at the airport. Through elbow-touching, the President welcomed Chinese experts one by one. And he even kissed Chinese national flag emotionally to express gratitude to the Chinese government and Chinese people for supporting Serbia at such hard times. People at the scene were all touched. The Chinese medical team immediately went into check-up and treatment work soon after their arrival. They offered diagnosis and therapy schemes as well as prevention and control suggestions, helped build mobile cabin hospitals and worked side by side with their Serbian colleagues.Thanks to assistance of Chinese medical team and the medical aid equipments, the epidemic situation in Serbia was soon brought under control.Shortly,the country witnessed the turning point,both newly confirmed cases and suspected cases evidently decreased, and recovered cases continued to grow.

China’s selfless aid to Serbia gained praise and gratitude from various communities in the country. The “national treasure” athlete and world famous tennis player of Serbia Novak Djokovic posted a long text on his microblog on the evening of March 22nd,extending thanks to China and at the same time urging everyone to abide by quarantine regulation and support medical personnel.He said he’d like to give big thanks to those countries which helped each other during the COVID-19 outbreak, and highlighted it was particularly significant that China who itself suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic sent medical team and aid supplies to Serbia, it meant a lot to him and thank China.It’s noteworthy that at the end of his microblog text he used Chinese Pinyin to say “thank you,I love China” which was so warm. In a video interview on March 29th, Novak and his wife Elena expressed thanks again to China for aiding Serbia in the desperate situation. As he said,he had to thank China not only for selfless support at the critical moment when Serbia was facing coronavirus crises, but also for the long-standing friendship and solidarity that China accorded. He noted, “China is a good friend who stands with us during the pandemic crises, its help is quite significant for us. China has not only donated medical materials which meet our crying needs, but sent a very professional medical team to our country to fight coronavirus. A couple of days ago, I saw the medical supplies arrive at our land all the long way from China, bringing us precious experience dealing with the hot potato”,“we all thank China so much from the bottom of our hearts” he concluded in the interview. This video was soon forwarded by Serbian Embassy in China on its microblog which obtained more than one million hits and tens of thousands of likes. Djordje Stojkovic, a well-known star born in 1990s in Serbia, especially shot a video in Chinese language and posted it on internet,showing his gratitude to China. He said heartfelt thanks to China for helping fighting the epidemic and Serbian people will remember the kindness. Likewise, Aleksandar Vulin,Defense Minister of Serbia, expressed thanks for several times in a speech not long ago, and President Vucic also highlighted his gratitude to China several times on his twitter.

It is worth mentioning that in the early days when the COVID-19 broke out in China,all walks of life in Serbia actively expressed their strong support and sympathy to China who spared no effort to fight coronavirus at that time. Virus is ruthless but human being is sentient. Chinese people are all long ready and happy to help others and do charity,and always grateful to those who ever help China and seek chances to repay. No matter where a country is located and its people live, we all live in the same global village and are a community sharing a common future. Particularly,we have to support and help one another when we are facing catastrophes and disasters, which is the only way we can overcome difficulties.Undoubtedly, the selfless aid Chinese people accord to Serbian people,and the amity Serbian people extend to Chinese people during the pandemic crises will be written into the history of China-Serbia friendship as a much-told story.