Belarus’ Lukashenko hails ties with China ahead of Xi meeting

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has hailed his country’s ties with Beijing ahead of a closely watched meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

During Wednesday’s meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Lukashenko said Beijing and Minsk “have no closed topics for cooperation”, according to a readout published on the official website of the Belarusian presidency.

“We cooperate in all avenues. Most importantly, we have never set ourselves the task of being friends or working against third countries,” Lukashenko said, according to the readout.

“We are doing everything in the interests of our peoples – Belarusian and Chinese. This will continue to be the case,” he said.

In an accompanying video clip, Li could be heard telling Lukashenko that President Xi would meet with him Wednesday afternoon to “further plan the development of bilateral relations”.

“We are confident that relations between Belarus and China will continue to move forward, building on the friendship between the two countries,” Li said.

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Belarus, China relations with Russia

The state visit to the Chinese capital by Lukashenko – a staunch ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin – comes after Beijing laid out a position of ostensible neutrality on the year-long war in Ukraine.

China has been criticised by Western countries for failing to condemn Moscow’s attacks on its European neighbour and has reacted angrily to recent claims by the United States and NATO that it may be contemplating arms transfers to Russia.

The Belarusian leader called China’s position on the Ukraine crisis “a testimony to its peaceful foreign policy as well as a new and original step that will have a far-reaching impact all over the world”, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

Xi has spoken to Putin several times since the war began, but he has not done so with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Belarus shares a border with both Ukraine and Russia, but is financially and politically dependent on the Putin administration.

Lukashenko allowed Russia to use Belarus as a staging ground for its Ukraine offensive, and Kiev has expressed concern that Minsk may provide further support in Moscow’s war effort.

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