THE RUSSIANS AND CHINESE ARE HERE - Did the Americans hesitate too much?

By: Rasim Belko

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At the beginning of November last year, in an article titled "At the Crossroads of the Future: If the West hesitates, the East will rule Bosnia and Herzegovina," I wrote: "Therefore, the leaders of the countries that pressured the warring parties to sign peace in the town of Ohio should today, together, in some new city, lock up all BiH leaders and force them into a final agreement that will ensure the future of the citizens and peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina is in their homeland, not in the diaspora." and added:

"Otherwise, all options are open. From Bosnia and Herzegovina turning from the Euro-Atlantic path towards the Russian-Chinese economic and interest zone. At the same time, the option, God forbid, of war will remain hanging over the heads of those living in BiH."

Today, seven months later, US Ambassador Eric Nelson is announcing in eureka style that Bosnia and Herzegovina needs a Clean Path 5G network to protect the path for all network traffic entering our facilities.

"Ensuring that all end-to-end communications do not use equipment from Huawei or ZTE and other unreliable suppliers denies them the ability to disrupt, deny, or interfere with telecommunications services for all citizens, businesses, governments, and critical infrastructure," Nelson stated, adding that he discussed bringing American investors to BiH with the Minister of Transport and Communications of BiH.

Ambassador Nelson is not late; he has completely missed the timing of his reaction to the wide-open doors for Chinese and Russian investors in Bosnia and Herzegovina. And politics follows investors.

Because, Chinese, and not infrequently Russian companies, are mostly roaming Bosnia and Herzegovina. American and generally Western companies are barely present.

Somehow, in November, after the quoted article, we had a commotion with the start of works on the construction of a 10-kilometer section of the highway on Corridor 5c between Počitelj and Međugorje.

At the ceremony in Dretelj near Čapljina, high state and entity officials and representatives of the Chinese company China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited symbolically marked the beginning of works that should be completed by the end of 2021.

Also, in BH Telecom's 5G network testing campaign, Huawei somehow came to the forefront. Do we need to remind you of the Chinese companies building Block 7 in Tuzla?

A special story is in the other BiH entity - Republika Srpska, where Chinese and Russian companies are dominant.

"Last year, the institutions of Republika Srpska awarded contracts worth over 140 million marks to foreign companies through public tenders, and of that amount, nearly 93 percent of the money will end up in the accounts of Chinese and Russian companies. Among all foreign suppliers, Russians and Chinese dominate, who will receive as much as 130 million marks through just two contracts," show data from the BiH Public Procurement Agency in the possession of CAPITAL, which this portal published five days ago.

Therefore, in both entities, or rather the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the most money goes into the pockets of Chinese and Russian tycoons.

On the other hand, Bosnia and Herzegovina and its lower administrative units are increasingly open to Chinese and Russian money.

Thus, as early as 2016, the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency of BiH (FIPA) signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce for International Trade with the aim of improving the inflow of foreign investments from China to BiH, and thus strengthening economic cooperation between the two countries.

In the conclusion of the political analysis of the Foreign Policy Initiative "The New Silk Road Leads Through the Balkans - China and the Countries of Southeast Europe," it is stated: "we can claim that, following the economic crisis in Europe, the perception of Chinese economic expansion has changed, and Chinese investments are beginning to be seen as a life-saving solution, not as a threat."

"Investments in Southeast Europe are limited in scope (infrastructure and energy),
but by creating a fund of 10 billion US dollars for cooperation between China and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, there are indications that the scope of investment may expand. The future of Chinese presence in the Balkans will depend on several factors: primarily on the internal
economic conditions in China, but also on the dynamics of economic conditions in the Balkans. Politically, these relations are also a function of the relations between China and the European Union," it was stated, among other things, in the conclusion of the aforementioned analysis.

It was also stated that Balkan countries lack foreign investment, which is essential for maintaining financial stability.

"In this context, unlike Western investors, China is more willing to risk its funds, thereby not only strengthening its position in the Balkans but also creating a business card for the rest of Europe," it was stated in the conclusion of the Foreign Policy Initiative analysis.

And so, there is increasing evidence to support the claims from the beginning of this text, and in the direction of the East's and West's approach to the triangle on the globe representing the intersection of different powers and policies.

Therefore, I take the liberty to claim that the West, and especially the USA, realized quite late that the traditional union of Russian-Chinese interests is slowly taking over Southeast Europe.

This is also evident to the European Union; such a development does not bother them too much.

The question arises whether the US has and will have the levers of power in the very near future to stop the Russian-Chinese expansion into the Western Balkans, and beyond.

You hesitated, gentlemen, it seems, too much.