Vucic: I am preparing for first official visit to China

MEROSINA - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced on Friday he was preparing for his first official visit to China and noted that the two countries maintained a steely friendship based, among other aspects, on mutual respect of territorial integrity.

Speaking to reporters in Merosina, southern Serbia, Vucic said he had paid many working visits to China in the past but that he would now make an official visit and that he was exceptionally pleased with that honour.

"I am grateful to President Xi (Jinping) for the support he is providing to our country, always - politically, economically and in every other sense. And I think the visit may be a historic one for our country. We are too small for it to be historic for China, but it will be for us," Vucic said during a visit to a factory of the Chinese company Yusei Machinery.

He highlighted China's support for Serbia's territorial integrity.

"Just like we in Serbia have no problem with saying that, for us, Taiwan is the People's Republic of China, that we support the One China principle, as we used to say about Hong Kong once. We fully support China's policy, which is based on the norms of international public law and the UN Charter," Vucic said.

He also said he hoped there would be new Chinese investments in Serbia that would create new jobs and raise the standard of living.