Cooperation with China is a priority avenue of Belarus' foreign policy, Chairman of the House of Representatives Vladimir Andreichenko said as he met with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to Belarus Xie Xiaoyong, BelTA has learned.
“I believe that since you started working in Belarus in November, you have already seen that we have a very friendly and sincere attitude to your people and your country. Generally speaking, the advancement of relations with the People's Republic of China is a priority avenue of Belarus' foreign policy. We have long-standing ties, and this allows us tackling almost any issues and maintaining cooperation in many areas,” Vladimir Andreichenko said.
According to him, the bilateral cooperation rests on the contacts between the leaders of the two countries. “The Belarusian president and his Chinese counterpart held very important talks in January. They discussed the supply of food products and potassium chloride to China, inter-regional contacts, the fight against COVID-19. Of course, we are grateful to Chinese people for sending us 100,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine free of charge in February this year,” the speaker noted.
Vladimir Andreichenko emphasized that Belarus and China interact in many areas and at various international platforms, including inter-parliamentary ones. “Belarus is closely watching the progress made by your country. Once you had to deal with a lot of challenges, but today you are the world's leading nation. This all has been achieved by hardworking, talented Chinese people, their unity and solidarity. I think that friendship, mutual understanding between our states will remain in place in the future. Today it is important to consolidate efforts and launch large-scale projects in order to show the futility of sanctions and coercion used by individual states against Belarus and China,” he said.
The ambassador added that the China-Belarus mutually beneficial cooperation is gaining momentum. “We maintain contacts at the highest and high levels. Mutual understanding and political trust are increasing every year. We closely cooperate in international affairs, defend each other on issues representing our interests and concerns. Of course, I cannot but mention the progress we have achieved in the field of business cooperation, economy, trade, investment, science and technology, culture and education,” he said.
The ambassador noted that after the outbreak of the COVID-19 infection, China and Belarus have been supporting each other and providing the necessary resources to combat the virus. “We shared our best practices in combating the pandemic. We hope that the Chinese vaccines will help our Belarusian friends defeat the coronavirus. All this reflects the high level and special nature of the China-Belarus relations. We also support your country in defending your sovereignty and independence. And we respect the path chosen by Belarus in accordance with your realities,” he said.