The saying that the ox is not allowed what Jupiter is allowed (Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi), we can thank the famous German poet Joseph von Eichendorff for reviving this old Latin thought two centuries ago and reshaping it into the form we know today.
Germany is the ideal address if we wish to delve into this saying, especially in its modern geopolitical and economic context. For example, when Voice of America very anxiously asks whether the partnership with China will be an obstacle for Serbia on its path to the European Union. At that moment, another German, by the name of Kurt Bassuener, who is certainly not a Renaissance figure like Joseph von Eichendorff, tells us that it should not be surprising that Belgrade believes it can ignore Brussels if the European Union is not more aggressive in advocating for its own values.
VULIN’S JOURNEY
Bassuener, as can be deduced, is a “specialist” from the Council for Democratization Policy in Berlin and some kind of spokesperson for European bureaucrats in Brussels. For example, when something extraordinary needs to be conveyed to Belgrade, such as the interpretation of the true meaning of the delivery of American anti-tank missiles to Pristina, which makes this Bassuener a military analyst as well. In short, the recent reciprocal visits of Serbian and Chinese officials, according to Voice of America, coincided with Aleksandar Vulin’s stay in Russia, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, after having previously spoken with Sergey Shoigu, the Secretary of the Russian Federation Security Council.

Together with Chinese ownership in several local companies, Vulin’s journey was a reason for Voice of America to sound a serious European alarm, stating through the voice of Donatienne Ruy from the American Center for Strategic and International Studies that all of this together does not look good for “Serbia’s Euro-Atlantic trajectory.” Setting aside the fact that more than 80% of Serbian citizens, according to the latest research by Nova Srpska Politička Misao, oppose EU membership if it requires recognizing Kosovo and Metohija as an independent state, which is, incidentally, a real condition for Serbia to become an EU member. Also setting aside the fact that almost 85% of Serbian citizens do not support imposing sanctions on Russia, which is also one of the key conditions regarding the necessary alignment of Serbia’s foreign policy agenda with the EU. Serbia’s Euro-Atlantic path, according to Donatienne Ruy, is unprecedented, regardless of the will of the Serbian people, and cooperation with China is a weight around Serbia’s European neck.
GERMAN JUPITER
But let us return to Joseph von Eichendorff, instead of Kurt Bassuener: what is allowed to the German Jupiter is not allowed to the Serbian ox. Despite a 15.5% drop compared to 2022, according to the Berlin government’s data, China remained Germany’s largest trading partner last year. The trade value between the two countries amounted to about 250 billion euros. At the same time, Germany, according to its government’s website, views China as a systemic rival, not just a partner and competitor.
“Fundamental differences in opinions exist, especially regarding human rights, primarily individual freedoms, and issues related to the validity of international law, the international order, and interpretations of multilateralism,” is stated on the German Foreign Ministry’s website, with the remark that China is simultaneously a partner to Germany and that it is in Germany’s great interest for China to continue opening its markets to German companies and their products, establish rule-of-law structures, social systems, enable more political and economic participation, resolve minority issues peacefully and with respect for human rights, and shape a spirit of commitment to international institutions and support for a rules-based international order.
Although it is very difficult to obtain precise data, it is certain that German companies in China alone annually generate newly added value of goods and services measured in tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars. One only needs to visit any Chinese city and easily observe that the latest models of German cars are simply thriving on the streets, while the European Union, on behalf of the USA, lectures Serbia about cooperation with China being a burden to its European integration.
These lessons especially become meaningless when Belgrade is reproached for having to align its geopolitical vectors with economic facts, emphasizing that the European Union is Serbia’s largest trading partner. The fact that China is Germany’s largest trading partner and that the German economy ensured its competitiveness by importing energy from Russia, which should indicate Germany’s reliance on China and Russia, is simply never mentioned. What hypocrisy!
IF THE EUROPEAN UNION IS SILENT, INVESTMENTS DO NOT LIE
However, while it may be difficult to determine how much German companies produce within China, it is easy to check how much Germany invests in that country, while Serbia is criticized for its cooperation with Beijing.
According to The Financial Times, as reported by China’s Global Times, the value of direct German investments in China during the first half of this year amounted to 7.3 billion euros, approximately 800 million euros more than in the same period in 2023, which was, incidentally, a record year for German investments in China (a total of 12.7 billion dollars). The increase in German investments in China occurred despite warnings from Olaf Scholz’s government about “growing geopolitical risks” associated with the Chinese market and calls from the European Union.

Moreover, the surge in German investments in China was not prevented by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, who has repeatedly called on European companies to withdraw from the “risks” of doing business with the world’s second-largest economy. The sharp increase in German investments in China was also not hindered by the “China Strategy” adopted in July 2023, aimed at decoupling from China, about which Olaf Scholz spoke with great enthusiasm, emphasizing the need to reduce dependency on China.
The growth in German investments in China was driven by the interests of German companies, not by the isolationist trend imposed by Brussels on behalf of Washington. Chinese analysts have rightly observed that starting in 2023, high production costs, rising energy and food prices, tightened regulatory restrictions, and European Union bureaucracy have simply forced many companies to move their production out of such an environment.
In contrast to Brussels’ isolationist moves, China, thanks to decisions made at the Third Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, began a new wave of market access easing this summer, putting private capital from European, particularly German and French companies, to a serious test.
On the other hand, Chinese investments in Germany and the European Union have not recovered after the pandemic, and not just because of the pandemic’s impact on economic flows. Due to a series of protectionist measures from Brussels, Chinese investments in the European Union have returned to the level of 14 years ago. An exception to this trend is Hungary, which has recorded a significant increase in Chinese investments in recent years.
ANTI-CHINA PROPAGANDA WORTH 1.6 BILLION
Although Serbia is not Germany, especially not in economic terms, anyone who portrays Belgrade’s cooperation with China as a “millstone around its neck” while remaining silent about the enormous value of Berlin’s cooperation with Beijing is, at the very least, being dishonest.
Even when Brussels, undoubtedly on behalf of Washington, tries to thwart Chinese competition in the field of importing the most modern automobiles, as we have witnessed this year, German companies continue to break records in investments in China, making the criticisms from the European Union that Serbia’s cooperation with Beijing is a stumbling block to its European integration mildly put, tragicomic, almost as tragicomic as Serbia’s own European integration process.
How “interesting” European-Chinese and Serbian-Chinese relations will be in the coming years can be seen from the bill recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives (HR 1157). The bill pertains to financing the prevention of the “malicious influence of the PRC.” If the bill is accepted by the Senate and signed by the future U.S. president, the U.S. will invest 1.6 billion dollars in anti-China propaganda worldwide, and this through USAID and the State Department alone.