China to welcome Belarus leader, raising concerns over Ukraine

NEW YORK – As officials in Ukraine anxiously watch evolving diplomatic overtures between Moscow and Beijing, China’s top leader will host

the President of Belarus – a staunch Kremlin ally

– this week.

On Saturday, China announced the visit of President Alexander Lukashenko, who a year ago allowed Russian forces to use his country as a staging ground for their full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The visit will take place over three days starting on Tuesday.

The presence in Beijing of such a close partner of Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to increase international attention, and pressure, over China’s straddling position on the war.

The announcement of Beijing’s latest high-profile official visitor comes a week after

United States President Joe Biden’s administration accused China of considering sending lethal military assistance

to Russia, a claim that Chinese officials have denied.

If the Chinese send arms and ammunition to Moscow’s formations in eastern Ukraine, the supplies would come at a time when both sides are running low on much-needed artillery rounds.

After

Beijing issued broad principles on Friday for trying to end the fighting

in Ukraine, Western leaders voiced disappointment at the lack of more specific ideas in their proposal, or any signs that Chinese President Xi Jinping might be willing to distance himself from Mr Putin.

Mr Lukashenko’s office said in a statement that his visit to China would be a chance to offer a “response to acute challenges in the modern international environment”.

In a phone call with Belarus’ Foreign Minister Sergei Aleinik on Friday, his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang indicated that Beijing wanted to deepen ties between the two nations and find common ground over

Russia’s year-long war in Ukraine,

according to a summary issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Beijing, Mr Qin said, “opposes the meddling of external forces in Belarus’ domestic affairs and the illegal imposition of unilateral sanctions on Belarus”, which has been subjected to expanded Western penalties because of its support for Russia.

Mr Yauheni Preiherman, director of the Minsk Dialogue Council on International Relations, in Minsk, the Belarus capital, said in written answers to questions that “Minsk has long considered China as a key foreign policy and economic partner and, therefore, invested a lot of time and political effort in deepening relations with Beijing”.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that

he, too, would like to meet Mr Xi directly.

There has been no official response to his overture. NYTIMES