Foreign guests interact with a humanoid robot at the 4th China-CEEC Expo & International Consumer Goods Fair on May 22, 2025 in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang Province. Photo: VCG

 
When Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Croatia Gordan Grlić Radman visited China this week for talks with Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the Peljesac Bridge stood out as a shining example of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation between the two countries and deepening cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs).

As the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) evolved, what began with iconic projects like Croatia's Peljesac Bridge has rippled outward, weaving a dense network of economic interconnectedness that fuels growth, diversifies partnerships, and drives innovation.
 
Wang said that the high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, exemplified by the Peljesac Bridge, has achieved fruitful results, promoting a more mature and stable bilateral relationship and entering a new stage of high-level development. Both sides should enhance exchanges at all levels, increase mutual understanding and mutual trust, continue to firmly respect and support each other, strengthen the synergy of the BRI with Croatia's development strategies, and deepen exchanges and cooperation in various fields, according to a readout on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday.

The Peljesac Bridge, inaugurated on July 26, 2022, is approaching its third anniversary and has become much more than a mere transportation link.

A Chinese consortium, led by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), constructed the 2.4-kilometer (km) long bridge linking Croatia's mainland with the Peljesac Peninsula on the country's southern Adriatic coast. Since its inauguration, the bridge has significantly reduced travel time to the Adriatic coast, promoted transport and increased economic opportunities for the region, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
 
Since its inauguration, the bridge has boosted transportation efficiency and supported the growth of  tourism and logistics across the region. Today, this architectural marvel has become an iconic landmark of southern Croatia, drawing an ever-increasing number of visitors, CRBC said.
 
According to the latest data, during peak seasons, the bridge now sees an average of 13,880 daily crossings, the Global Times learned from CRBC on Wednesday.
 
Liang Haiming, dean of the Hainan University Belt and Road Research Institute, told the Global Times that the Peljesac Bridge has brought tangible benefits to the local area. 

"As a landmark BRI project, it has significantly shortened the travel time between northern and southern Croatia, facilitated the flow of people and goods, promoted local economic and social development and improved people's livelihoods. It has also demonstrated China's advantages in infrastructure construction in terms of both technology and cost," Liang said.

The success of the Peljesac Bridge reflects a broader trend of deepening Belt and Road cooperation between China and CEECs.
 
In recent years, mutually beneficial Belt and Road cooperation between China and CEECs has been consolidated, with increasingly deepened cooperation in trade, investment, and connectivity.

Another landmark Belt and Road project is the Hungary-Serbia Railway, which is expected to enhance high-level connectivity in Central and Eastern Europe.

The Hungarian-Serbian Railway is China's first overseas high-speed railway project in Europe, with a total length of 350 km and a designed speed of 200 km/h. After the whole line is opened to traffic, a trip from Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, to Budapest, the capital of Hungary, will take less than three hours, which will greatly facilitate the economic and trade cooperation and exchanges between the two countries and in the region, according to China Railway Group Limited (CREC), a major contractor of the project.

Currently, the physical construction of the Hungarian section has now largely completed, entering the critical phase of commissioning, testing, and acceptance. Efforts will be made to achieve the goal of "high-quality completion on schedule," CREC said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Wednesday.

Bridge, Railroads and Beyond
Jelena Grubor Stefanovic, director of the representative office of Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China, told the Global Times that under the BRI framework, Serbia has attracted over $10 billion in Chinese investment since 2016. Flagship projects such as railways, highways, thermal plants, and industrial revitalization initiatives have reshaped Serbia's economic landscape. 

Beyond physical connectivity, Serbia and China continue to explore new areas of cooperation, and the BRI provides the institutional platform that supports this evolution, Stefanovic said.

"What began as a framework for infrastructure and transportation has grown into a comprehensive platform for long-term economic, technological, and institutional cooperation," Stefanovic said.

While there is still room for traditional infrastructure upgrades in Serbia, the BRI is now expanding under its BRI 2.0 framework high-tech industries, environmental innovation, and digital systems integration - all priorities for Serbia's future development with three sectors standing out, green energy, industrial production, and digital infrastructure, Stefanovic added.

This trend aligns with the growing momentum of emerging sectors such as electric vehicles and renewable energy across the CEECs .

Chinese bus maker Yutong Bus Co, based in Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan Province, is ramping up efforts to expand its presence in Central and Eastern Europe, a young but fast-growing market. In early July, its high-end U10 new energy electric bus was successfully delivered to Amstetten, Austria.

This supports the development of cleaner, and more sustainable public transport in Europe and marks a new chapter in Austria's green mobility sector, according to information the company shared with the Global Times on Wednesday.

In recent years, Chinese electric vehicle and power battery supply chain enterprises have ramped up investment and research efforts in the CEECs, becoming a new highlight of bilateral investment cooperation, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) told a press conference in May.

The broader economic ties between China and the CEECs also continue to strengthen. Since 2012, trade between China and CEECs has grown at an average annual rate of 8.8 percent, with China's imports from CEECs rising by 7.4 percent annually - both figures outpacing China's overall foreign trade growth, the MOFCOM said.

In 2024, bilateral trade volume reached a record $142.3 billion, up 6.3 percent year-on-year. Investment cooperation has also deepened, with China's cumulative investment in CEECs exceeding $24 billion, according to MOFCOM.