China and Serbia gear up for first joint military training exercise

China will hold its first joint military training exercise with the Serbian military this month as defence ties deepen between Beijing and the Balkan country.

“This will be the first joint training between the Chinese and Serbian militaries. It will help strengthen the combat skills of participating troops and deepen cooperation between the two militaries,” Jiang said.

Similar joint exercises are usually hosted on a rotating basis, but neither side has said whether Serbia will host such a drill in the future.

This will also be the first time for China to conduct exercises with European forces since it held joint counterterrorism training with Belarus near the border with Poland and Ukraine last July.

Serbia is considered one of China’s closest partners in Europe, particularly since Nato’s 1999 bombing of the former Yugoslavia, of which Serbia was a part.

It is one of six Western Balkan countries waiting to join the European Union, but it has no plans to join Nato.