Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has announced that he will be in China next month - on a state and official visit lasting five to six days. According to Vučić, Chinese President Xi Jinping will also receive Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in the same period. That means three presidents who define the current global order will all meet in Beijing within a single month.

Vučić described this visit as „the most important of his political career". The topics on the table: robotics, artificial intelligence, military-technical cooperation, infrastructure, and education reform. This isn't a short list. It's a full package for restructuring Serbia's foreign relations.

At the same event, Vučić dropped his most provocative sentence: „We'd now have what to go to war with, but I don't want war, because I promised the people peace." A statement with two main underlines. First, confirmation that Serbia, with its newly acquired hardware, is significantly better armed than in 1999, when NATO bombed Yugoslavia. Second - that this force exists as an option, not as a scenario.

What kind of weaponry is Vučić talking about? According to his statements, Serbia has bought substantial quantities of weapons and military equipment, including powerful weapons from Israel. That's an important detail. Israel has, in the last decade, sold Serbia drones, air defence systems and electronic warfare equipment. Simultaneously, Serbia bought military vehicles from China and systems from Russia. That's a strategy of „diversified armament" - buy from every side, depend on none.

Kosovo is again „on the negotiating table", says Vučić. He gives no details, but confirms talks are happening. From a Balkan perspective, that means Kosovo's status - 17 years after the unilaterally declared independence - still remains an open question in Serbian political vocabulary. No Serbian president can commit to recognition and remain president.

What does it mean for the Balkans? Vučić is positioning Serbia as a central player. With China in two weeks, with Russia and Trump in the same orbit, with Israel as a military partner. Macedonia, Albania, North Macedonia and Bosnia - all are small players in this geometry. Vučić creates the illusion that he can talk to everyone at once, and that's a strategy that delivers influence in the short term but unpredictability in the long.

The question about the intent behind „we'd have what to go to war with, but we don't want to": why is it important to him to say it now? It's a message to Kosovo, to Bosnia (especially after the rhetoric around Republika Srpska), and to Albania. It's not a direct threat - that would be stupid and counter-productive. But it is a „reminder" that Serbia has the capacity. Balkan politics is often about the tone, not the facts. And yesterday's tone was: we're ready, we don't want to, but we're ready.