Serbia Can Count on China's Support in Row With Kosovo – Envoy

BELGRADE (Sputnik) - China’s ambassador said Friday the Chinese government stands by Serbia in its row with Kosovo whose police were accused of making an inroad into a Serb-run municipality.

"Serbia can count on China’s support," Chinese Ambassador Li Manchang was quoted as saying by the Serbian president’s office.

The diplomat promised to brief Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang about the events, adding the Kosovo police inclusion followed "the well-known scenario of attacks on Serbian integrity."

READ MORE: Serbia Will Not Recognise Kosovo Despite New 100% Tariffs — President Vucic

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, on his part, said that Serbia "has never been in a worse situation despite repeated calls for peace and stability." He accused NATO, which leads a peacekeeping force in North Kosovo, of lying about Kosovo police pushing north.

The official's statements come after Kosovo police arrested four Serbs in the morning in the town of Mitrovica in the ethnic Serb majority northern Kosovo, allegedly as part of a probe into the killing of a Kosovo Serb politician. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Prime Minister Ana Brnabic held a series of emergency meetings in the wake of the crisis and spoke to ambassadors of China and Russia.

Kosovo, an Albanian-dominated region, declared independence from Serbia in 2008 but it has not been recognized internationally. Its ethnic Serb-majority northern areas are run by Serb authorities under a 2013 Brussels deal.