China has become a world power, and as of 2021, after the United States and the EU, it is the third-largest economy in the world, with a huge impact on the world economy and politics. Since 2012 China has a significant presence in the Western Balkan region.

Parliamentary elections in August 2020 in Montenegro resulted in a historic change when the long-term governing Democratic Party of Socialists under the leadership of Milo Đukanović was replaced by a new heterogeneous government coalition.