Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for a three-day state visit. Lukashenko endorsed China’s nebulous “peace plan” for Ukraine during a meeting with fellow dictator Xi Jinping, shoring up the rising China-dominated axis of authoritarianism.
“The two sides should firmly support the development path chosen by each other, support each other in safeguarding their own core interests, oppose external forces interfering in internal affairs, and safeguard the sovereignty and political security of the two countries,” Xi said after meeting with Lukashenko.
The Belarusian strongman hailed Xi for offering “new non-standard approaches and responsible political decisions” that could prevent “a slide into a global confrontation in which there will be no winners.”
“That is why Belarus actively comes up with proposals for peace, and fully supports your proposed initiative on international security,” Lukashenko told Xi.
Lukashenko obsequiously told Xi’s underling, Premier Li Keqiang, that Beijing has a “friend” in Belarus, not to mention a devoted admirer of China’s “calm, thoughtful movement forward.”
“You go your own way, you do not interfere with anyone and do not react to small bites,” Lukashenko said. That will come as news to the people of Taiwan, or the unfortunate Filipino sailors China has been manhandling and laser-blinding in its bullying attempt to claim dominion over the entire South China Sea.
The Belarusian leader had not a word of criticism for China’s belligerence and human rights abuses, instead pledging his absolute and unquestioning support for China’s abuses in the South China Sea, East Turkestan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Tibet.
Lukashenko signed a slew of cooperation agreements with China with various officials in Beijing and, after a chat with Xi that supposedly ran much longer than expected, the two dictators announced they have developed a “China-Belarus All-Weather Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in the New Era.”
China’s state-run Global Times on Tuesday gave Lukashenko a pat on the head for being an early supporter of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China’s international infrastructure project, and for eagerly volunteering to cooperate with China “in areas such as politics, economy, trade, finance, manufacturing, agriculture, science and technology, sports, tourism, healthcare, interregional cooperation and mass media.”
The Global Times noted Belarus is useful to China because it is “halfway between Russia and Europe, and is on the China-Europe freight train route.” It also has a “strong machine manufacturing sector” that could be useful to China’s plans.
China, in turn, offers Lukashenko’s appalling regime a way to circumvent Western human rights sanctions and a gateway to more international prestige than Belarus could manage on its own, especially after Lukashenko nakedly rigged elections and referendums to remain in power.
“Analysts said that Belarus’ support for China’s position on a political settlement to the Ukraine crisis paves the way for future cooperation in multilateral frameworks such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), of which Lukashenko said he expects Belarus will become a full member in 2023,” the Global Times noted.
Of course, the Chinese Communist paper was outraged at the notion that anyone would take a cynical view of Beijing’s blossoming relationship with Minsk:
Some Western media outlets view Lukashenko’s visit through a biased lens, describing Belarus as Russia’s “little ally,” and attempt to bind China with the two countries together to condemn them. Analysts said such narrow-mindedness reflects Western political elites’ insincerity and hypocrisy toward peace, as Minsk has played the role of mediator between Russia and Ukraine on multiple occasions in history. At the same time, as one of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, China has always played a positive role in promoting peace talks.
An even more cynical observer might wonder if Lukashenko is sucking up to Beijing because he wants to avoid getting dragged into Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s bloody military adventure in Ukraine. The Global Times went back to hyperventilating over Western skepticism in yet another editorial on Lukashenko’s visit, using almost identical verbiage:
We have also noticed that some Western media outlets still view this visit through a biased lens, describing Belarus as Russia’s “little ally” and suggesting that China’s “expanding influence” should be a cause for concern. This view shows disrespect for Belarus. It is not only highly narrow-minded, but also reflects some Western political elites’ insincerity and hypocrisy toward peace. Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine are known as the three Slavic brothers, sharing the same historical roots. Minsk has played the role of mediator between Russia and Ukraine on multiple occasions. At the same time, as one of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, China has always played a positive role in promoting peace talks. This should be seen as a positive asset for the international community.
We emphasize that both China-Belarus relations and China-Russia relations are built on the basis of non-confrontation, non-alliance and non-targeting of third countries. This sends a clear message to the world that China develops all bilateral relations with its partners based on common interests, and the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, with open doors for cooperation. We will never bypass a country just because the US or others do not like it. This is the right approach that truly conforms to the trend of globalization and the spirit of diversity.
The Hill noticed that Xi used Lukashenko as a prop to tout China’s “12-point peace plan” for Ukraine, a document that not even China’s allies in Russia could pretend to take seriously for more than a few hours, but Beijing insists on hyping as one of the most important publications in the history of diplomacy.
The “peace plan” is almost amusingly vague and contradictory, nattering about “national sovereignty” while Russian forces rampage through Ukraine and crabbing about the “Cold War mentality” of the West, as if that were more important than Russian missiles slamming into Ukrainian apartment buildings.
Two of the plan’s major elements are blaming the West for starting the war by “strengthening or expanding military blocs,” meaning NATO, and an all-out assault on the Western practice of using economic sanctions to pressure human rights violators.
As The Hill pointed out, China demands only sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council should be considered legitimate – and China and Russia both have the power to unilaterally veto any and all such sanctions. It is not hard to see why the brutish Lukashenko would be eager to endorse a “peace plan” like that.