20250820 XI JINPING in SERBIA

Chinese President Xi Jinping is introduced to the crowd at the Palace of Serbia in Belgrade by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on May 8, 2024.  © Reuters

KEN MORIYASU

August 20, 2025 03:48 JST

WASHINGTON — Southeast of the “Iron Curtain” famously described by Winston Churchill in 1946, a new group of China-friendly nations is forming a north-south line that runs through the heart of Eurasia.