Washington and Berlin furious at Serbia buying weapons from China

Serbian army soldiers march during a military parade marking the 75th anniversary of Belgrade's liberation from Nazi Germany, at Batajnica military airport near Belgrade, October 19, 2019. (Illustration) AFP - ANDREJ ISAKOVIC

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1 min

A delivery of Chinese anti-aircraft weapons to Serbia provokes many negative reactions from Europe and the United States.

The armaments were delivered over the weekend by Chinese military aircraft.

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With our correspondent in Belgrade

,

This weekend, a Chinese military jumbo jet landed at the airport in Belgrade,

, and caused discord as it was an arms shipment to the country from China.

The plane probably contained FK3 surface-to-air missiles, the purchase of which would have been negotiated in 2019.

The reaction

would almost sound like a threat.

"

," Washington said on Tuesday.

Contradiction with EU defense policy

Serbia, a candidate for entry into

, is the first country on the continent to call on China to equip itself with these sophisticated systems and the contradiction has also been noted by Germany.

Berlin says it expects the candidates to align their defense policy with that of the EU.

For several years, Serbia has displayed its ties with Russia and China.

Belgrade is already under pressure due to its ambiguous stance on sanctions against Russia.

Serbia is therefore asked not to display its ties with Beijing too much, while relations between China and the West could be strained in the context of the war in Ukraine.

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