Belarus and China Plan on Increasing Ties

  |  
Mar 23, 2023

Belarus is expanding ties with China. During a meeting earlier this month with Li Zhanshu, the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko confirmed his country’s commitment to strengthening ties with China. 

“Expanding ties with China has been a foreign policy priority for us. Thanks to joint efforts, the notion of ‘a comprehensive strategic partnership’ has acquired a special meaning in relations between Belarus and China,” Lukashenko said in a quote that BelTA news agency was able to record. 

Per the Belarusian leader, “today, Moscow and Beijing continue to foster a constructive political dialogue, successfully develop economic cooperation and expand regional ties.”

Lukashenko also declared that there are no obstacles to tightening bilateral interactions between the two nations.

“We are ready to keep making the necessary efforts for a fruitful development of our partnership,” the Belarusian leader proclaimed.

Belarus has relatively tight relations with China. While popular conception has made it seem that Belarus and Russia have been intimate friends, that’s more of a recent development. In general, Belarus and China have had much more solid relations. Following the controversy-filled elections of 2020, China was one of the first countries to congratulate Lukashenko for his re-election. For some time, the two countries have had deep political and economic ties. 

On Russia’s part, it has bolstered its otherwise weird relationship with Belarus following its military incursion in Ukraine, which has seen both countries largely demonized on the world stage. Before, Belarus exercised a multi-vector foreign policy with Russia where it played it off the West for the sake of extracting as many benefits as possible.

However, the Russo-Ukrainian conflict has turned into a major turning point, where the world is bifurcating into a Collective West vs. Eurasia competing axes. Belarus is definitely falling into the latter camp.

Our Latest Articles