Alternatively, China has cultivated an image of itself as a benign global power and a strategic investor with no political or cultural ambitions. How­ever, this approach has changed recently. In the region in general, and in Republic of North Macedonia in particular, China saw potential political and social benefits from its so called- mask and vaccine diplomacy, during the COVID 19 pandemic(Panagiotou,2025). Moreover, the establishment of the Confucius Institute in the country shows China’s interest in a broad­er presence in the Republic of North Macedonia. The dangers of China’s policies have increased as a result of the new geopolitical realities brought upon by the war in Ukraine and can only contribute to move away from EU standards and practices, and the necessary structural reforms. Turkey also uses soft power instruments based on religious, cultural, and common historical heritage in areas that have a large number of Muslim and Turkish population. In this context, the EU presence and visibility in the country through soft power instruments is more important than ever. The role of EU Houses that are opening in different Macedonian cities, with aim to promote EU values and EU culture need to be more visible and more tangible for peo­ple’s everyday lives in order to spread the EU idea and to make it closer and more acceptable. Only through attaining its main foreign policy priority of becoming an EU Member State, Republic of North Macedonia can move towards consolidation of its economic development and national security. Conclusions The national security culture of the Republic of North Macedonia was con­structed and redefined throughout the years, based on its national interests and how they were connecting with the global and regional international environment. One of the most important aspects in the process of build­ing the country’s national security culture was the international positioning and its membership in international organisations. The independence of the country from the former Yugoslav federation, its international position­ing, followed by the internal conflict in 2001 defined the security treats and the preferred available instruments relied upon to meet them. At its very beginnings, the national security threats for the country were coming from both the outside – mainly from the expansionist aspirations of some neighbouring countries to create greater nation-states by seizing pieces of Macedonian territory, and from the inside – the ethnic tensions. These na­148 NATIONAL SECURITY CULTURES- A VIEW FROM THE BALKANS