China, Serbia consider enhanced cooperation through extraditions

BELGRADE — Serbia has extradited five Chinese citizens in the past five years, according to data obtained by RFE/RL.

While a extradition case between China and Serbia was made public in 2021, the new instances, which were obtained by RFE/RL's Balkan Service through a freedom of information request from the Serbian Ministry of Justice, show that the Extraditions took place on a larger scale than previously thought.

This cooperation is also expected to expand as the Justice Ministry prepares to submit to Parliament an extradition bill with China that, if passed, would expand the scope of cooperation between Beijing and Belgrade.

In response to RFE/RL's questions, the Justice Ministry said it was currently drafting the bill and “obtaining opinions from other relevant institutions.” After that, the ministry said it would “launch the ratification procedure” of the treaty between Serbia and China.

The extradition agreement was sign in May during a state visit of Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Belgrade and is a sign of deepening ties between the two countries. During the trip, Xi and Serbian President Aleksandr Vucic strengthened their strong partnership with 28 new agreements, paving the way for further cooperation in areas such as law enforcement and media.

The extradition agreement, which would regulate the bilateral extradition of citizens accused of crimes, is seen by experts as a response to the influx of tourists and Chinese nationals to Serbia which corresponds to large-scale Chinese investments and loans for projects across Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative. Road Initiative (BRI).

According to data from the National Employment Service of Serbia, more than 45,000 work permits have been issued to Chinese citizens since 2016, when the ruling Serbian Progressive Party began to intensify its relations with Beijing and expand BIS projects.

Serbia's Interior Ministry told RFE/RL that there are currently 3,433 Chinese citizens registered in the country.

Petar Vidosavljevic, a lawyer at the Belgrade Human Rights Center, a Belgrade-based NGO, tells RFE/RL that visa-free travel between the two countries has made it easier for Chinese people, including criminals, to enter Serbia.

But he added that questions remain about how “Serbian authorities will enforce this agreement” and whether they will monitor it for cases of misuse.

Extradition concerns

Beijing has faces criticism surveillance groups that use the extradition system around the world to bring back not only criminals, but also political dissidents and those who from vulnerable groupslike the country's Uyghur community.

The NGO Safeguard Defenders, based in Madrid, warned about Beijing abusing the system.

The group says China has so far signed more than 60 bilateral extradition treaties with countries around the world and more than 40 of them have been ratified by national parliaments.

And since Xi came to power in late 2012, Safeguard Defenders has recorded nearly 70 attempts by the Chinese government to extradite 400 people to China. Most of them were in Europe and the extradition requests were considered to be based on shaky legal grounds.

Serbia has signed extradition treaties with many countries, including the United States, Germany, Belarus, Turkey, Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

But over the past five years, courts in more than a dozen European Union member states have stopped granting China's extradition requests on suspicion that the person being extradited would be facing repression, abuse and extrajudicial reprisals in her country.

A Serbian snapshot

In the cases documented in data obtained by RFE/RL on Serbia's extradition of Chinese nationals, the five Chinese were prosecuted on criminal charges: three for fraud, one for money laundering and one for battery serious.

All five cases took place under Serbian domestic law which covers international criminal matters.

The new treaty, if ratified by Parliament, could streamline this process, believes Vidosavljevic. But he adds that since the contents of the agreement signed in May have not been made public, human rights defenders are concerned about whether all elements of the agreement will be disclosed.

The contract signed by Serbia with China has caused concern among human rights experts because it has still not been made public, Vidosavljevic adds.

Several contracts signed between Belgrade and the Chinese government or Chinese state-owned companies remain secret and have been subject to scrutiny.

More recently, there has been public reaction about contracts with Chinese construction companies that renovated and rebuilt parts of the main train station in the Serbian city of Novi Sad, whose roof collapsed and killed 15 people.

Serbian authorities said Chinese companies have not replaced the collapsed roof and contracts will not be made public due to confidentiality provisions in the agreements.

Correction: The number of work permits issued to Chinese citizens since 2016 was previously reported incorrectly.