Vasilis Petropoulos, Junior Research Fellow at ELIAMEP and Associate Research Fellow for Chinese Foreign Policy at the Institute of International Economic Relations (IIER), together with Plamen Tonchev, Head of the Asia Unit at IIER, have authored a paper entitled “China in the Security Conundrum of Europe’s Southeastern Periphery”, as part of IIER’s large-scale research project on China’s presence in the region.
China’s engagement with Europe’s Southeastern Periphery (ESEP)- that is the region straddling the Black Sea, the Western Balkans, and the Eastern Mediterranean- has been very cautious and largely confined to investment deals within the context of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). However, over the last decade or so Beijing seems to carefully yet steadily expand its presence to the security realm of the region. For the first time explored as a contiguous geographical area, ESEP contains an array of actors, ranging from NATO member states to countries adopting a diversified foreign policy, entailing both opportunities and constraints for China. This paper is built around seven security-related indicators of engagement and allows for a comparative analysis of the drivers, the tools, and the limitations that define China’s policies in its pursuit of security cooperation in ESEP. 4 key takeaways are the following:
a) While Russia remains China’s most prominent security partner in the region, other countries such as Serbia and Egypt have considerably strengthened their military ties with Beijing via strategic arms purchases and comprehensive military exercises that send shivers down the spine of the EU and the US;
b) NATO countries, such as North Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, and Croatia, have shown interest in working with China in sensitive areas (e.g. telecommunications, surveillance systems etc.) but pressure from the their Western partners, notably the US, has led to their cancelling the projects, which tangibly reaffirms their foreign policy priorities;
c) Countries, such as Moldova, Serbia, and Georgia use China as a potential counterweight to the influence of Russia. From its end, China is happy to play this role insofar as its conduct does not interfere with Moscow’s vital interests in these countries.
d) Apart from traditional military engagements, China’s playbook in ESEP includes other methods of security cooperation, such as naval visits, high-profile meetings, and investments in dual-use infrastructure, activities that combine visibility with practicality.
You can read the paper here.
Photo on this website by: Annie Spratt, Unsplash
Δημοσίευση:
15/09/2025
Αναλυτές
Vasilis Petropoulos
Junior Research Fellow, Security and Foreign Policy