ISTANBUL 

China on Thursday vowed to support Serbia in “safeguarding” its social stability and national interests, and urged the two sides to enhance their bilateral cooperation.

During a meeting in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping told his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic that Serbia is “the first European country to have built a community with a shared future in the new era with China.”

“As ironclad friends, China supports Serbia in safeguarding its national interests and social stability, and in pursuing a successful development path suited to its conditions,” Xi said.

Xi's pledge to support Serbia's social stability comes as Serbia has witnessed protests that began November last year.

“The two sides need to foster greater synergy between their development strategies, make full use of facilitation arrangements such as the free trade agreement, mutual visa exemption, and direct flights, and deepen cooperation in such areas as artificial intelligence, digital economy, and new energy, to continuously advance China-Serbia relations,” he added.

Xi also hosted Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on Thursday in Beijing, where he told Fico that China is “ready to work with Slovakia to maintain close high-level exchanges, firmly support each other’s chosen development path, strengthen experience sharing on governance, and continuously deepen mutual political trust.”

Expressing his hope for “the sound and steady development of China-EU relations,” Xi said that Beijing stands ready to “actively advance practical cooperation in such areas as new energy, infrastructure and logistics,” between China and Serbia.