National flags of China and Slovakia are seen at the Tian'anmen Square on October 31, 2024. Photo: IC

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is paying an official visit to China from October 31 to November 5. 

This visit by Fico marks another high-level interaction between Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and China in 2024, following the visits of Tanja Fajon, Slovenian deputy prime minister and minister of foreign and European affairs, Polish President Andrzej Duda, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. 

Slovakia is a key member of various sub-regional and regional organizations, including the Visegrád Group, the EU and NATO. This visit is therefore expected to have strategic significance, not only for China-Slovakia relations, China-CEE cooperation and China-Europe relations, but also for peace and stability in the broader European region.

In the context of a complex European political and security environment, Fico's visit profoundly reflects Slovakia's strategic autonomy, demonstrating its ability to independently assess shifts in regional and global power structures and to align itself with the global trends of peace and development. From the perspective of strategic motivation, Fico's visit carries multiple objectives.

First, the primary economic motivation of his China visit is to pursue pragmatic cooperation with China. Fico's government is taking livelihood issues as its foremost political concern, while prioritizing national development interests as a standard in foreign relations. 

His delegation for this China visit includes not only government officials but also the largest-ever business groups. In addition, Fico's schedule includes visiting Hefei, the capital city of East China's Anhui Province, to meet with Gotion High-Tech, a Chinese lithium battery manufacturer planning to invest in a factory in Slovakia, as well as attending the 7th China International Import Expo.

Second, Fico aims to balance political pressure within the EU and expand Slovakia's diplomatic space. As a politician who champions national sovereignty, Fico opposes the supranationalism of EU bureaucratic institutions that encroach on member states' sovereignty. To this end, Fico has joined the other three nationalist leaders of the Visegrád Group in opposing the European Commission's mandatory quotas for taking refugees. Against the backdrop of the EU's intensified focus on values and geopolitical competition, Fico's stance sets him apart from his Western allies. Thus, in some respects, his "turning to the East" strategy could help it balance political pressures from the EU and the US.

In addition, the Fico government maintains a neutral stance on the Ukraine issue, advocating for political solutions and encouraging dialogue to contribute positively to peace and stability in Europe. In 2023, Fico publicly told lawmakers that Slovakia would "no longer supply weapons to Ukraine" and would only send humanitarian aid to Kiev. 

During the ongoing visit, Fico said Slovakia is ready to join the "Friends of Peace" group launched by China and Brazil at the United Nations to resolve the war in Ukraine. As a responsible politician, Fico consistently prioritizes national sovereignty and national interests in foreign policy, insisting on independently handling internal and external affairs while opposing the ideological and geopolitical confrontational mindset inherited from the Cold War by the West.

The relationship between China and Slovakia, nested within multiple layers of cooperation frameworks, holds multiple strategic significances. The first significance of Slovakia's "turn to the East" strategy is to propel bilateral economic, political and cultural exchanges into a fast track of all-round pragmatic cooperation. 

The second significance is reflected in the framework of CEE cooperation, where Fico's visit to China will establish a new cooperative model for China-CEE collaboration. 

The third significance lies in that the strategic proximity between China and Slovakia has a demonstrative effect on shaping a healthy, de-ideologized and de-geopoliticized relationship between China and Europe. The Slovak government's ability to discard geopolitical and ideological confrontational thinking, and independently make decisions aligned with the interests of its people and long-term regional security, can have spillover effects on the overall China-Europe relationship. 

A strong piece of evidence of this was seen in the October 4 vote on whether the EU should impose anti-subsidy tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports. Slovakia voted against.

The author is a research fellow at Central and Eastern European Studies Centre of Beijing Foreign Studies University opinion@globaltimes.com.cn