President Xi Jinping arrived in Belgrade on Friday, the first stop of his three-nation tour in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and Central Asia.

Belgrade, also the former Yugoslavian capital, stirs complicated memories for the Chinese public.

As well as the NATO bombing that killed three Chinese journalists at the Chinese Embassy on May 8, 1999, the city was also an important outpost for China to look out to the world since the 1970s. Yugoslavian films, music and modern lifestyle once deeply impressed us. The country's later sudden disappearance shocked us in a different manner, leaving us wondering.

In the 1980s, the living standards of people in Belgrade were out of reach for the Chinese people. Today, save for Slovenia and Croatia, the per capita GDP of the former Yugoslavian nations have fallen far behind that of China, which has the largest population in the world, at nearly 1.4 billion. The sea change in the past 30 years has taught the Chinese people a solid lesson.

Today's Serbia is an unusually good friend of China in the middle of Europe. It was the first CEE country to forge a strategic partnership with China. The Serbian people's friendliness and respect to China is sincere and stable. Serbia shows the greatest eagerness in its response to China's Belt and Road initiative - construction of the Budapest-Belgrade railway has started on the Serbian side; Chinese companies have built a bridge on the Danube river and acquired a local steel company.

Serbia has gone through numerous pains in history. Eurasian politics often embroiled it in wars or turmoil. But it is also a nation with a strong spirit of independence. Serbia is the only CEE country that has not applied to join NATO.

Globalization has given Serbia and China a chance to grow closer. China has become a new element, outside Serbia's complicated geographic and historical memories. Serbia, on the other hand, has become a foothold for China to further engage with Europe.

This is a change both countries should cherish. Serbia is not a poor country. It has strong economic and cultural foundations.

If China-Serbia cooperation succeeds and forms a sustainable development model, it will create remarkable demonstration effect. Serbia has not joined the EU. It can decide for itself in its cooperation with China.

If the China-Serbia cooperation can generate more returns based on mutual benefit, it will become a convincing calling card for China's cooperation with other countries.

China and Serbia are hugely different in size, and far away from each other. But mutual benefit and passion are linking up the two countries despite the huge distance. It is a new story in China's engagement with Europe.