Tag: Chinese influence

(Main photo: Commercial for the Belt and Road Initiative in one of the Macedonian trains purchased from China reading “Speed up the Belt initiative, Charming Macedonia") It took North Macedonia only a few years to dramatically change its bilateral relationship with China. In 1999, it was the sole European country that recognized Taiwan as an independent state, besides the Vatican....

In 2017, Albania signed a cooperation agreement with China in the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It was conceived as an attempt to enhance bilateral cooperation in the areas of infrastructure, production capacity, tourism, and agriculture. Six years later, very little has been achieved. During a tour of Albania by Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli on April...

“Makedonski Telekom” (Macedonian Telecom) and “A1 Makedonija” (A1 Macedonia) telecoms are currently modernizing their complete mobile telephony infrastructure and working on the implementation of their 5G networks in North Macedonia. Unlike all the previous instances of a technological makeover, North Macedonia as a member of NATO and signatory of the Clean Network Program initiated by the USA, this time...

The direct investments in the economy, infrastructure, telecommunications, media, the academic cooperation with universities and the operations of the “Confucius” institutes are strategic instruments of the Chinese influence, not only in North Macedonia, but in other countries as well. Macedonian media do not report enough on the Chinese “soft power” in the country, while the citizens create an abstract,...