BEIJING (AP) — Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic deepened ties with China on Monday during a trip to Beijing as he faced pressure at home from anti-government protests in his Balkan country, including a major rally that prompted clashes over the weekend.

After a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the two leaders witnessed the signing of more than 20 cooperation agreements, covering areas such as politics, trade, technology and education, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported. During their talks, Xi told Vucic that their countries should strengthen exchanges and cooperation to push their comprehensive strategic partnership to new heights.

“China supports Serbia in persisting on a development path that suits its own national conditions, and is willing to strengthen exchanges of governance experience with Serbia,” CCTV quoted Xi as saying.

Xi also said both sides should expand cooperation in artificial intelligence, digital economy and green energy to develop new growth drivers.

In a joint statement released by Chinese official news agency Xinhua, both sides said countries must not politicize human rights issues, the two nations would promote sovereign equality, practice multilateralism and observe international rule of law.

Vucic said Serbia attaches great importance to developing relations with China and steadfastly supports China’s core interests, CCTV reported. Xi awarded him a “friendship medal”, Xinhua said.

Vucic, who began his five-day state visit to China on Sunday, is facing political pressure in his country. Clashes erupted between groups of protesters and riot police after Saturday’s huge anti-government rally by tens of thousands of his opponents in the Serbian capital of Belgrade.

Vucic has sought to curb mass demonstrations that have shaken his hard-line rule in the Balkan country. But big crowds on Saturday suggested the dissent persists more than a year after protests first started to demand accountability for a deadly collapse at a train station in November 2024.

The tragedy became a flashpoint for broader dissatisfaction with Serbia’s rule and has led to growing public demands for transparency in the graft-plagued country, which has carried out a quick series of large infrastructure projects, mostly with Chinese companies.

Serbia is formally seeking European Union entry, but it has fostered ties with Russia and China. In Vucic’s opinion piece published by the South China Morning Post newspaper on Sunday, he said discussions about China in Europe are “too often clouded by suspicion and strategic anxiety.”

“I understand that every major political community must guard its future, but I believe Europe should approach China not with fear and suspicion but with confidence and a serious, open-eyed willingness to cooperate,” he wrote.