By Riyaz ul Khaliq
ISTANBUL – China on Tuesday put its weight behind Serbia amid the Balkan nation’s renewed conflict with neighboring Kosovo.
“China pays close attention” to escalating tensions in Kosovo and clashes between NATO soldiers and Serb protesters, said Mao Ning, spokeswoman of China’s Foreign Ministry.
China “supports Serbia’s efforts to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and opposes unilateral actions taken by the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government in Pristina,” said Mao, according to Chinese daily Global Times.
Mao said Beijing "calls for the implementation of the obligation to the establishment of an association/community of Serb-majority municipalities."
She urged the NATO to "earnestly respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of relevant countries and truly do things that are conducive to regional peace."
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said Monday that a police officer in Kosovo opened fire on protesting Serbs with an assault rifle before clashes broke out in Kosovo's ethnic-Serb dominated northern municipalities.
Vucic, however, denied reports of shots being fired by the NATO-led peacekeeping mission Kosovo Force (KFOR).
"A Kosovo police officer opened fire with an automatic rifle at the Serbs, hitting at least one person before the Serbs responded with stones,” he said.
He added that 52 Serbs were injured in the clashes, three of them seriously.
Earlier, NATO, the European Union and the US urged the Kosovo authorities to withdraw the special police units from the northern municipalities.
At least 25 KFOR soldiers were injured Monday in clashes with protesting Serbs.
Tensions have gripped Kosovo, with protesters and security forces clashing in the country's northern Serb-dominated municipalities over the election of ethnic Albanian mayors.
- Mayoral elections
Serb protesters have gathered outside the Serb-dominated Zvecan municipality in northern Kosovo since Monday morning to bar newly elected Albanian mayors from entering three municipal buildings.
The protesters attempted to breach a police cordon in front of the town hall, the police said in a statement, adding they used tear gas to disperse the crowd.
KFOR units also used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the protesters, who did not retreat and responded with stones and sticks.
Last month, Kosovo Serbs boycotted extraordinary local government elections for four municipalities in the country's north. Only 3.47% of eligible voters cast ballots, according to the Kosovo Central Election Commission (KQZ).
As tensions heightened in the region, Serbia ordered its army to advance to the border with Kosovo and urged NATO to “stop the violence against local Serbs in Kosovo.”
Kosovo Serbs on Saturday called on Vucic to suspend the ongoing dialogue process for normalizing relations with Kosovo, whose 2008 independence from neighboring Serbia has never been recognized.
The EU requires Kosovo and Serbia to reach a final agreement and resolve disputes to progress in their integration into the bloc.