On May 7, 1999, five bombs rained down from U.S. jets on the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, as part of NATO’s air campaign to halt the deadly assault by the forces of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. Nearly a quarter of a century later, China is transforming the site of its bombed former embassy into an expansive cultural center, set to be one of the largest of its kind in Europe. Once opened, the center will serve not only as a potent symbol of China’s growing presence in the Werstern Balkans, but also of the potential kinship between the two regions, not least owing to the shared socialist past that Chinese diplomats often emphasize to advance those relations. In the long-run, some experts deem China’s growing economic clout in Europe, primarily through the Western Balkans, a more consequential trend than Russia’s invasion of Ukraine itself. To unpack just how deep China’s influence on the region runs, we are joined this week by Damir Marusic of the Atlantic Council and Valbona Zeneli of the Marshall Center. As always, please rate and review Uncommon Decency on Apple Podcasts, and send us your comments or questions either on Twitter at @UnDecencyPod or by e-mail at undecencypod@gmail.com. And please consider supporting the show through Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/undecencypod.