Monitoring Desk
BEIJING: Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on Wednesday told his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping his country “completely supports” Beijing’s proposals for ending the war in Ukraine.
The state visit to Beijing by Lukashenko — a strong ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin — comes after China published a position paper on Russia’s war in Ukraine, saying it is a neutral party to the war and calling for talks.
Western countries have criticized China for failing to denounce Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and have reacted with anger to recent claims by the United States (US) and NATO that it may be contemplating arms supplies to Russia.
The position paper was met with criticism from allies of Ukraine, while Russia acknowledged the peace proposal but said the conditions for a political resolution of the conflict were not currently in place.
But on Wednesday, Alexander Lukashenko threw his weight behind the plan.
“Today’s meeting is taking place at a challenging time, which calls for new, responsible political decisions and unorthodox approaches,” Lukashenko said.
“They should be aimed at preventing a slide into an international confrontation that will see no winners,” Lukashenko told Xi.
“That is why Belarus is actively pursuing peace proposals and fully supports the initiative on global security you have put forward.”
Belarus intends to increase technological cooperation with China
The Belarusian President also said his country wanted to increase technological cooperation with China.
Lukashenko met Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang earlier on Wednesday.
He said China and Belarus “have no closed topics for bilateral cooperation,” according to a readout published on the website of the Belarusian presidency.
“We cooperate in all avenues. Most importantly, we have never tasked ourselves with being friends or working against third countries,” the Belarusian leader said.
In an accompanying video clip, Li told Lukashenko that the meeting with Xi Jinping would help “further plan the development of bilateral ties.”
“We are confident that ties between China and Belarus will continue to move forward, building on the friendship between the two allies,” Li said.
