Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic visits Minth Group in Jiaxing, East China's Zhejiang Province, on May 27, 2026. Photo: Xinhua

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Wednesday visited Minth Group, a global auto-parts supplier, in Jiaxing, East China's Zhejiang Province, adding another innovation-focused stop to his China visit that analysts said highlights the expansion of bilateral cooperation into advanced manufacturing, smart mobility and emerging industrial chains.

During the visit, Vucic learned about Minth's development in innovation fields including humanoid robots, according to the Xinhua News Agency. A short video released by Xinhua showed the Serbian president watching humanoid robots perform in formation and demonstrate calligraphy, with company representatives explaining the display on site.

The Minth visit came a day after Vucic toured the auto factory of Chinese tech giant Xiaomi in Beijing and met with Zhao Deli, founder of Chinese flying car company XPeng AeroHT. The Serbian President is paying a state visit to China from Sunday to Thursday, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Vucic's stops at Chinese innovation-led companies suggest both sides are looking to move practical cooperation up the value chain, pairing Serbia's manufacturing base and European market access with China's strengths in technology commercialization and supply-chain development, Chinese analysts said.

At a future factory of Minth on Wednesday morning, Vucic was briefed on the company's auto-parts research, manufacturing and system-solution capabilities, as well as its expansion into humanoid robots, wireless charging, the low-altitude economy and AI liquid cooling and energy, the Global Times learned from the company on Wednesday.

During Wednesday's visit, Serbia signed agreements with four Chinese companies, including Minth Group, in new projects in high-tech, auto parts and advanced manufacturing, underscoring the growing depth of China-Serbia strategic economic cooperation, according to public information. 

Vucic wrote on X on Wednesday that "In two months, we will have humanoid robots produced in Serbia. We will have something that no one else in Europe has. I am proud of the friendship between Serbia and the People's Republic of China and the prestige that our country enjoys."

The latest stop followed earlier Serbia-China discussions on humanoid robots. In February, Vucic met representatives of Minth Group and AGIBOT Innovation in Belgrade and said Serbia could start producing such robots as early as this year, with plans for 50 factories between 2026 and 2030 where humans and robots would work together, according to a news release issued by the Serbian president's office.

Zhou Mi, a senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Wednesday that Vucic's intensive visits to Chinese innovation-driven companies show Serbia's intention to broaden cooperation with China in investment, trade and emerging industries.

Serbia has an industrial base and access to the European market, while Chinese companies are strong in turning technologies into commercial-scale applications, Zhou said. "If these projects take root locally, they could attract suppliers, strengthen supporting industries and create spillovers in jobs, skills training and technology upgrading."

The Zhejiang visit followed Vucic's Tuesday tour of Xiaomi's Beijing auto factory, where he got an up-close look at Chinese electric vehicles (EV) and learned about Chinese technology companies' latest progress in intelligent manufacturing and industrial innovation, according to Xinhua.

In a Xinhua video, Vucic told reporters that "these are beautiful cars" during his visit the factory, and after getting inside the EV, he said, "It's really great."

In a social media post, the Serbian leader said that the Xiaomi plant was highly automated, with "2,000 robots" operating production lines that can produce 1,500 cars in two shifts. He said Serbia had invited Xiaomi, if it considers investing in Europe, to choose Serbia, and had also invited the company to showcase its products at EXPO 2027 Belgrade.

Vucic also met Zhao Deli, founder and CEO of XPeng AeroHT, in Beijing on Tuesday, according to the official WeChat account of the municipal government of Changsha, Central China's Hunan Province. Zhao said the company plans to work with Serbia to build Central and Eastern Europe's first national-level smart low-altitude demonstration zone around EXPO 2027 Belgrade.

The corporate visits formed part of a broader state visit anchored by high-level diplomacy. On Monday, China and Serbia signed more than 20 cooperation documents covering political relations, economy and trade, science and technology, education, legal affairs and culture, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Tuesday that both sides agreed to seek synergy between China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-230) and the Serbia 2030 development strategy and deepen political cooperation, as well as cooperation in areas like the economy, science and technology, culture, tourism and education.

Bilateral economic and trade relations have continued to develop. According to statistics from the General Administration of Customs, bilateral trade reached $6.48 billion in 2025, up 13 percent year-on-year.