Chinese premier to meet leaders from E. Europe in Croatia after key summit with EU

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is meeting leaders from eastern and central Europe in Croatia on Friday to talk business, after a key summit with the EU where he pledged opening up his country’s economy. The eighth annual “16+1 cooperation” event hosted by the coastal city of Dubrovnik is an economic platform for Beijing’s investments in 11 eastern EU states and five Western Balkan countries. The grouping has been eyed cautiously in western European capitals as an attempt to “divide and rule” the bloc, a goal Li has denied, AFP reports. Eastern Europe is a core component of Beijing’s ‘Belt and Road’ project, valued at up to $1 trillion and aimed at constructing land and sea links to allow Chinese exports to flow westward.