DRAGAN MISHEV

China’s “soft power” has in the past decade attracted growing attention as an alternative to Western influence in the Western Balkans region. Instead of direct political or military pressure, China advances through cultural diplomacy, educational cooperation, and technological support—seeking to create a positive image and long-term dependence on its institutions and technologies.

In recent years, China has gradually strengthened its presence in North Macedonia through a “soft power” strategy—a combination of cultural diplomacy, academic cooperation, and technological donations. This strategy aims to foster a positive image of China, its development model, and its companies, at a time when North Macedonia is a NATO member state and aspires to join the European Union.

This strategy is particularly visible through the education system and universities, the presence of Chinese companies in the ICT sector, and the growing use of the Chinese social platform TikTok.

China’s Active Presence in Macedonian Education

Educational cooperation between North Macedonia and China is based on the Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Education signed between the two Ministries of Education on December 5, 2007, in Beijing, and the Agreement on Scientific and Technological Cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Macedonia and the Government of the People’s Republic of China, signed on March 7, 1995.

According to the Ministry of Education, the intensity of cooperation “has not shown signs of decline,” although in recent years no new initiatives have been proposed to deepen it.

According to last year’s data, the number of students studying the Chinese language through the Confucius Institute in Skopje, established within Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in 2013, continues to grow. This institute is arguably China’s most important and long-term soft power instrument in North Macedonia. Through the promotion of Chinese language and culture, it builds a network of young people, academics, and professors with affinities toward China. Though formally a cultural institution, it serves as a tool of Chinese foreign policy—aiming to spread narratives that portray China as a model of stability and development free from Western conditionality.

At the same time, cooperation between Gansu Agricultural University from China and the University of Information Science and Technology “St. Paul the Apostle” from Ohrid opens space for long-term academic and technological ties, particularly in agrotechnology and digital systems.

China’s continued interest in Macedonian education is also evident through the Memorandum of Understanding for Joint Funding of Research and Development Projects, which foresees reciprocal financing of joint research projects and the equipping of laboratories in both countries. This memorandum is included in the official strategic plan of the Ministry of Education and Science for the period 2022–2024.

A study by the Skopje-based NGO Estima shows an increased number of Chinese book titles published in Macedonian. Since 1978, a total of 90 Chinese titles have been translated, 50 of them since 2018—half being children’s books. Some translations are published in cooperation with Dolphin Books (Beijing), a subsidiary of the China International Publishing Group, owned by the Chinese Communist Party.

Technological Presence of Huawei in Institutions

While Western partners limit the use of Chinese technology, Huawei continues to expand in North Macedonia by donating IT equipment to the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering (FINKI), the Faculty of Pedagogy, and the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Although these donations are presented as support for digitalization, they in practice create technological dependence—at a time when the European Union imposes strict restrictions on “high-risk vendors” such as Huawei and ZTE due to security concerns.

Huawei faces significant limitations and is banned from key EU institutions and certain national projects, as many EU member states have removed its equipment from their 5G networks. As of March 2025, Huawei has been banned by the European Parliament and the European Commission following a corruption investigation.

Under such circumstances, accepting donations from Huawei may prove counterproductive for North Macedonia’s Euro-Atlantic orientation. Though presented as university aid, such equipment fosters technological dependence and, in a broader sense, potential channels for influence and data exchange.

The Influence of TikTok on the Youth

Additionally, the social network TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, represents a new channel of influence over young people in North Macedonia. Through entertaining and highly engaging content, the app shapes values and opinions among youth and can indirectly affect political orientations—especially during election periods.

Unlike North Macedonia, TikTok is partially or entirely restricted in EU and NATO institutions and in several Western countries (including the USA, Canada, and France, as well as Albania) due to privacy concerns and the potential access of Chinese authorities to user data. For the same reasons, the European Commission and European Parliament have banned the use of TikTok on official devices.

Thus, China’s presence does not only build educational and technological ties—it also shapes digital habits and perceptions that can indirectly affect democratic processes and the political choices of younger generations.

China’s Influence on Elections

In the context of upcoming local elections in the country, China’s “soft power” operates subtly—by shaping public opinion that views the Chinese model as more efficient, stable, and less conditional than the Western one. Within this framework, growing attention is directed toward BRICS, the economic alliance led by China, which some see as an alternative to the European Union. Certain local political actors and analysts promote BRICS as a “new pole of global balance” offering economic cooperation without political conditionality. Although such narratives are rarely expressed openly, they influence parts of public discourse, especially among voters disappointed by the slow EU accession process or those perceiving the Union as overly restrictive.

Thus, China’s presence not only builds educational and technological links but also shapes perceptions that can indirectly influence electoral orientations and attitudes toward the country’s foreign policy. For North Macedonia, as a NATO member and EU candidate country, the challenge remains how to maintain openness to global cooperation—while ensuring that Chinese cultural and technological diplomacy does not evolve into structural dependence capable of affecting democratic processes and the nation’s strategic orientation.

This report was prepared with research and analytical assistance from AI (ChatGPT, OpenAI). The tool supported open-source monitoring, media and social network analysis, and fact-checking, as well as editing. All interpretations, conclusions, and responsibility for the content rest solely with the author and CIVIL.

This article is part of the project “Democratic Navigator – Strategic Response to Disinformation and Hybrid Threats, Building Democratic Resilience.”