Two tigers in one mountain: Europeanising the Western Balkans amid China’s engagement

Abstract

Europeanising the Western Balkans is exceptionally intricate in times of crisis. China’s growing engagement in the region has made it more complicated. The European Union (EU) would be in a better position if it learns to accommodate other external actors in the area, shifting its focus from a parochial partnership to a pragmatic one. Irrespective of the rhetorical systemic rivalry, China has brought and will continuously bring funding and expertise to the Western Balkan countries. After all, chronic underdevelopment, in no small part, has kept them away from gaining EU membership. Therefore, even though the realist idiom warns that two tigers cannot coexist in one mountain, the Western Balkans can and should accommodate more external actors if regional stakeholders, such as the EU and China, can take the region’s development seriously. Specifically, the article examines the convergence of EU-China interests in land transport infrastructure development in the Western Balkans.