here's the votes, the message from its incumbent prime minister is clear. we don't want to be americans, nor danes. me to be exit route on facebook. greenland is hours. i'm about to go up to date. i'll have more well news that the top of the, our business is next looking at whether the you can compete with china's rail times by the people in trucks injured was trying to feed the city center. the straight pieces explain the around the world more than 150000000 people of we of mine because no one should have to

make up your own mind. dw may 4 mines of the in serbia. the consequences of chinese influence in the balkans now clearer than ever a surge of violence following the dead's 15 people killed when a train station walls suddenly collapsed. that station just one part of a larger chinese project stretching across the balkans and deeper into europe. a series of rail connections, notice core door 10, and the pathway for chinese exports with big showcase projects along the way. and more in the works. now europe is racing to keep up pushing to complete

a different route from albania, to the coast of the black sea, the growing priority at a time of war and with consequences for the regions economy. the. we're taking a trip to see it firsthand 2 weeks across the balkans. the along the way, we'll look at how big rail projects are conducting a region as well as the pumps along the way. we'll see where things appear to be working quite pleasant terminal. and we'll look at where they threaten to break down the rail and the future of the balkans coming up to see just how divisive rail can become. we're heading north into neighboring serbia along the path of cord or 10. again,

that's the route coming from the chinese own port in greece. and already we see chinese containers moving up gradually from the south as we drive, it's a build rate. chinese financing has sort in serbia over the past decade. experts say this non e u country is almost 4000000000 euros in debt to china for a population of less than 7000000 people. so why is china such a popular partner? deeper too much and then a door efficiency that comes with dealing with the chinese. they want to have results fast because in addition to that combining benefits, it's a transportation communication provides. it also provides an opportunity for political leaders to showcase themselves as appropriate as a provider. so if it cannot be development, serbia is already bidding big on the future, build up of chinese goods coming out of greece like it this newly renovated container terminal and build rate. but not everything is going according to plan.

we're actually waiting on this tree down here to come and be offloaded. but one of the wagon slipped the track and the cargo director told us that while at the realm it doesn't happen here every day. it does point to a problem with the overall rail system in serbia. many of the tracks are still quite old and they desperately need refurbishment. other things are meanwhile being improved. this is billed rates, new central train station. it opens in 2023. in this case with credit from q weight, and it's the departure point for the 1st stretch of the country's new high speed rail line. the 1st leg from build rate and nobody saw opened in 2022 2nd stretch to the city of supports. at the board with hungry was due to open in late 2024 hour tickets from bell. great. nobody saw it costs us about $6.00 zeros each. the journey is roughly 30 minutes by car. it's more than an hour. this is

a showcase project for china and part of its belt and road initiative. its massive effort to build up infrastructure around the world. china has built almost 30000 miles of highs be trained at home and wants to show it can do it in europe. we're traveling about 200 kilometers an hour right now. the train is that i would say, decently felt for a tuesday morning and it's quite a pleasant journey. but there's already a dark spot on the still young rail line. and it's here at no be side where a wall at the recently refurbished train station suddenly collapsed. it's unclear who exactly was responsible. a chinese construction firm was in charge of the project. the local firms were also involved. the 15 people were killed among them,

children behind me is where this accident happened. you can see part of the facade ripped away, when essentially a concrete overhang suddenly gave way and crashed down to the people waiting below . many of them simply waiting for a city bus to come by the after the shot came the questions. and when the answers didn't come, then there was anger. the protesters have marched through the streets of novi, sod and build rate. students have stopped going to classes and block traffic all are demanding resignations, all pushing for more accountability. protests or say the government has blood on its hands. the secret contracts around the station work have left even the most basic questions unanswered. the

continue, this is up to mom as you put the money on this list, if you will do it, it's not that i'm signed the document and this will be the least pay almost of all that. on the 2nd of the document, the protests have only grown in recent months. tapping into a larger frustration with the lack of transparency and the heavy handedness of the government of president alexander, of which i'll accept that is good argue effects for food. because i supposed to be $92.00. i stock operating saga city bank. you know, a sell out of all the positives that needs a fee not what i need to guide you into was you not what i'm saying most beautiful . yeah, we will be, i do, we ask the serbian government for comments, but received no response. the protests have become so widespread that the government pushed back the opening of the final stretch of high speed rail. what was suppose to be a political when is instead of liability?

we're driving now in hungry where they're still working on their section of that high speed rail line coming from build rate. and what we talked about in serbia with the relationship to china and chinese investment, the same applies here in hungry is not even more so. talk you consider hungry really set the standard for its relationship with chinese one second, it's just across the serbian border. it's one of 100 largest cities and it's an industrial center. the country's politics are already visible here, and so i get the message of this billboard is obvious. hungry is on the way up. that's the government's view at least. meanwhile, the e. u. of which hungry is a member, has become a target, like invest at with also the funded line. it's alex soros. that's the son of finance here at george soros. but the hon gary in economy is actually struggling in

budapest. so at odds with brussels, that it's now receiving less you funding, which makes it more reliant on other sources. last year, budapest quietly took out a 1000000000 euro loan from china. hungry is largest ever foreign credit and it's become more reliance on investments like this one chinese car, baker, b y, d we head out to the construction side in a mass of field outside 2nd, and run into some difficulties. finally, we make it be wide. these 300 hector mega project, just across the way it should pop out 200000 electric cars annually. once completed, that means the company will be able to get around new european in portals on chinese, electric vehicles. electric cars that have china are a controversial topic in the u, but here and hungry,

they fit perfectly to the strategy political strategy. and so the economics strategy, the victor autobahn and his allies have developed here for quite some time. if you think china's new high speed line runs through 2nd, however, you'd be mistaken. instead it runs that a straight line from a serbian border more direct route that locals assume was preferred by chinese planners. this is the largest city on the line before budapest gonzales, population 26000 local say they're pleased to be receiving a renovated train station as of that. they have no it's, i don't see that they have that made the you actually disperses funds to help regents like this one in member countries such as hungry. but again, that's money. the brussels is now holding back. what exactly the

country's suppose to get out of its mass of real project isn't clear. even from here, the capital budapest, most domestic media don't get into the costs of the project versus its benefits. and that's why we're meeting up with an independent journalist, blankets all the works for a fact checking portal. it's been looking into the details around the project and to exactly benefits from the new line. we are relying on, on experts uh on uh, on chinese relations, for example, economic experts, journalists were trying to, to calculate the rate of return on investment. what we need to know is that according to to the optimistic calculations, the return on investment can be expected at like 130 years. but there even like more pessimistic calculations taking that it would take 2000 years to actually have a return on investment. a container terminal in budapest,

the final stop from greece and a spring board deeper into europe. china is only deepening its roland hungry. meanwhile, just recently, conflicts 10 rail and a chinese construction firm announced a new terminal on a port in the w. and this is where our story also comes to an end for our journey. this is the end of the lot. but we've seen a lot over the past 2 weeks that europe in china are in a fight for influence across the balkans and then hungry. and that competition is visible in 2 major rail projects. we've seen that in albania, in north macedonia, real represents a greater connection to the you, but also to european markets. chinese support is meanwhile important in hungry. and serbia, for governments are eager to set themselves apart from the you. but when something goes wrong, as it has in serbia, the same projects can embody the broader frustrations of

a corruption and lack of transparency in both those countries as well. our journey is here, the story continues. how will these major real projects continue to influence a region like this? and the direction that it takes? will the e u and try to continue to battle for spheres of influence in the balkans and in countries like hungry. it's something that will continue to watch and continue to show you guys. thanks for watching the the, the new will tell you. we are happy that we are back to

the story. we have a getting a visa is more difficult than finding gold hosted to use the dream force and for the present in the stories and issues that are being discussed across the country. are you news african next on d w? i'm go sure he goes back in, but to say on god, but you been not seen on di starting child marriage. the 2 women from indonesia and pakistan pass over mary just to do the needs of a successful global in 60 minutes. on d w. we are all set and we're watching closely

in the we can use a story behind the news. we rolled about unbiased information for 3 months. the . this is the w news, africa coming up on the program to women and matt, how equal are they in africa? women's voices from across the continent and from different fields. when we hear from one of africa's tech giants on the challenges she face even getting a bank account. also coming up repeated nigerian or curator, doors made it her mission to share the art of african women with the world tens, feminism even be african. we ask one of the advocates leading thinkers and get her views on in quality. and it's place on the content plus.