Belarus’ Lukashenko meets China’s Xi in Beijing for talks

TOKYO: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing for talks, the Belarusian presidential Telegram channel Pul Pervogo said on Monday.

China-Belarus relations are at their “historic peak,” Pul Pervogo quoted Xi as telling Lukashenko.

“This is exactly what we talked with you before,” Lukashenko replied, according to the Telegram post. “And perhaps, to some extent, what we had dreamed of on the eve of this global cooperation between Belarus and … China.”

Lukashenko’s visit to China comes after he held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.

The meeting follows mounting tension between Belarus and Ukraine, whose president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, says he believes Putin is trying to get Lukashenko to step up his support for Russia in its Ukraine war.