"Chinese construction site" in Serbia: activists speak of "slave labour"

dw.com "Chinese construction site" in Serbia: activists speak of "slave labour" Sanja Kljajić, Nemanja Rujević - Yesterday at 17:16 Around 500 Vietnamese workers are building a Chinese tyre factory in Serbia - under inhumane conditions, activists say. No money, no passports, no hot water. The government disagrees. Serbia: Vietnamese guest workers have no rights "No food, no electricity", says a Vietnamese worker - he doesn't speak much more English. The journalists are here again. This man and his 500 or so compatriots cannot really believe that their fate has been occupying the media in Serbia for days and threatens to become a political issue. For months, the workers from the Far East have been toiling on a construction site near Zrenjanin, in the north of the Balkan country. There, a giant factory of the Chinese car tyre manufacturer Linglong Tyre is being built on a greenfield site. Hundreds of Vietnamese workers build a Chinese tyre factory in northern Serbia Linglong is to invest around 900 million US dollars here. A record commitment for Serbia. More than 1000 employees are to work in production soon. Criminal charges of human trafficking But the fairy tale of the "iron friendship" between China and Serbia and the great opportunity of the new Silk Road is clouded by reports of slave-like working conditions on the construction site. "It is terrible. People don't even have medical help," reports investigative journalist Ivana Gordić, who was the first to report on the living and working conditions of the Vietnamese. Pictures from the cable channel N1 also show dilapidated shacks on the outskirts of the city, with beds like in overcrowded prisons and only two old bathrooms for hundreds of people. "There is no heating and the hot water in the boiler is enough for five people at most," Gordić told DW. Serbian activists have filed criminal charges on suspicion of slave labour and human trafficking. According to the complaint, the guest workers have only been paid one month's wages, although they have been in Serbia since spring 2021. The employer had withheld their passports. Poor working and housing conditions for Vietnamese migrant workers in Zrenjanin Last week, activists took a worker out of the barracks who had previously been fired for speaking to the media. A scuffle ensued with security guards, only then did police and labour inspectors show up. Several journalists were obstructed in their work by a Chinese man whose role is not clear, including the DW reporter. In a dark van with Belgrade licence plates, the man briefly blocked the DW team on the road, but then moved away again. President "begs" for Chinese money It's all just a "media and political campaign" against Chinese capital, says Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić in response. "Because of public pressure, we sent inspectors there. The conditions are not good, but they are getting better," Vučić admitted, and then asked the critics: "Should we destroy the investment of 900 million? We also want to help the Vietnamese workers, but I will not chase away the investors." The strongman in Belgrade rules the country single-handedly, there is virtually no opposition and the major media are kept on a short leash. Although Vučić is in favour of his country's EU membership, he speaks openly about how he is "begging" for investment from China's strongman Xi Jinping. Aleksandar Vučić and Xi Jinping in Beijing on 16.05.2017. Meanwhile, Chinese companies control a large steel mill and a copper mine in Serbia. They are building railway networks and motorways. German and other Western investors are also being courted with state subsidies, free land or tax rebates. "The problem here is not that Linglong is a Chinese company," says Danilo Ćurčić, the human rights lawyer of the non-governmental organisation "A11", which is looking into the case. "The real problem is that this situation is a logical consequence of the erosion of workers' rights as well as the so-called race to the bottom for foreign investment." This refers to lavish money that investors get for each job created. The sums range up to 50,000 euros per job - with ordinary workers usually earning 400 to 500 euros net per month. As a mere workbench for Western and Chinese companies, Serbia is increasingly becoming the "Bangladesh of the Balkans", critics say. Workers are threatened In an interview with DW, Ćurčić raises serious accusations in the Linglong case. "Serbia is not a well-meaning state in this situation, rather an accomplice of the investor.