Chinese investment in Smederevo, Bor and Zrenjanin: Natural and human resources an instrument for the accumulation of capital of a few privileged

“In the conditions of very shaky respect for the rule of law in this country, the consequences of various investment projects do not take into account the life, freedoms and security of our citizens.” said BCSP Director Igor Bandović opening up the discussion.

BCSP Senior Researcher Maja Bjeloš presented research conducted in the three cities in order to grasp the effects of Chinese projects to human security, environment and human rights. She pointed out that the Serbian Government’s lack of upholding the rule of law resulted in ignoring appeals, and no action taken in response to violations committed by the Chinese investors.  All these actions are ignored due to state economic interests.

“Natural and human resources are an instrument for the accumulation of capital of a few privileged people” Bjeloš highlighted.

The head of the Department of Environmental Protection at the Technical Faculty in Bor, Snezana Šerbula, said that in Bor and Smederevo, unlike in Zrenjanin, the problem of pollution is old due to the nature of production, that the air was never clean. However, since the Chinese companies took over the smelter and steel plant, the production skyrocketed, as well as the pollution. She highlighted that lack of care about the environment leads to high profit margins.

“Each degree of air and water purification means an additional investment for the company and a more expensive final product. If you want the biggest profit, then you go to a country where the least attention is paid to environmental protection and the rule of law”, professor Šerbula.

Residents of Bor also pointed out they are unhappy with land grab for very low prices, even though Serbian law requires a fair market price to be paid.

“They offered 1 Euro for a square meter of land which is similar to buying a bag of potatoes,” Bor Resident Miodrag Živković highlighted.

Residents report that the local river has become heavily polluted with industrial sewage and the air tainted with noxious fumes. Copper mining produces deadly arsenic and there are well grounded fears of carcinogens in the air and water.

Dragan Nedeljković from the organization ProTok21 from Smederevo said that in that city, as well as in Bor, the prevailing feeling is that the laws of our state do not apply to investors. He said that Smederevo citizens have no insight into the pollution measurements, which was not the case in the past.

”Steel plant wants to be treated as a long-term project, which means that you have to invest in ecology, community and development. But everything seems to be short-term and serving for short-term profit-making and not thinking about what will happen to the environment and people in the next 10-15 years”, Nedeljković said.

A member of the board of directors of Zrenjanin Action (ZRAK), Miso Živanov, assessed that the people of Zrenjanin expect the opening of the tire factory in China’s Linglong with justified fear. “We are pessimistic, because we see in the examples of Bor and Smederevo that the activist struggle gives very poor results.

“We hope that through unification we will achieve that our problems gain visibility at the regional and international level,” said Živanov.

Participants also discussed workers’ treatment, which was put under spotlight in Zrenjanin. Local expressed concern that their community is beginning to resemble a “forced labor camp” with an influx of Chinese, Vietnamese, and other foreign workers laboring under unsafe and unlawful conditions.

“When Vietnamese workers complained about harsh conditions in Zrenjanin, Linglong management retaliated by removing the workers. NGOs that questioned the operation were smeared as anti-Chinese racists and the Serbian government minimized the dispute” Ivan Živkov of Građanski preokret highlighted.

Supported by the International Republican Institute’s Beacon Project. The views expressed during the event are solely those of the participants and do not reflect those of IRI.