MINSK, 8 June (BelTA) - Belarus and China are strategic partners who have been building relations on the basis of mutual trust, respect and consideration of each other's interests, Chairman of the House of Representatives Vladimir Andreichenko said during a video conference with Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Li Zhanshu, BelTA has learned.
"Today's meeting clearly confirms that Belarus and China are strategic partners who have been building relations on the basis of mutual trust, respect and consideration of each other's interests. I am convinced that our countries will consolidate their efforts and will demonstrate, through large-scale cooperation projects, the ineffectiveness of sanctions and diktat policies and the importance of cooperation in solving the issues on the international agenda," Vladimir Andreichenko said.
The speaker expressed the confidence that next year, when Belarus and China mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, the countries will celebrate new achievements in bilateral cooperation. “This year we are celebrating the five-year anniversary of trusting comprehensive strategic partnership and mutually beneficial cooperation, the highest level of relations in the history of Belarusian-Chinese relations, established by the leaders of the two countries. In a spirit of solidarity and mutual understanding, Chinese President Xi Jinping was the first to congratulate Aleksandr Lukashenko on his victory in the presidential election. I am sure that further close communication between the leaders of our countries and exchange of visits will bring the Belarusian-Chinese relations to the level of the iron-clad brotherhood and exemplary comprehensive strategic partnership and cooperation," he said.
Vladimir Andreichenko stressed that the tenth anniversary of the Memorandum of Cooperation signed between the National Assembly of Belarus and the National People's Congress of China was a landmark event for the legislatures. “Parliamentary interaction has become an integral part of interstate relations. We regularly exchange delegations, support each other at international venues.
We are grateful to China for its principled and reasoned position in the UN Security Council, the UN Human Rights Council and the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly. We hope that China's strong role in ICAO will help resolve the situation around the emergency landing of the Ryanair plane in Minsk. Such support is especially valuable at a time when our country has come under pressure, which, in fact, means pressure, through us, on our partners. It is not to everyone's liking that we work closely with China, that we were among the first to support the Belt and Road initiative. The head of state has said this more than once," Vladimir Andreichenko said.
The speaker added that Belarusian MPs will continue to promote the Belt and Road initiative at multilateral platforms, support China's position on the situation in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Tibet and Taiwan. “Recently, Belarusian MPs have been elected to the IPU bodies. In this organization, we intend to actively interact with our Chinese counterparts. We propose to speak with one voice at international venues to support the initiatives put forward by our heads of state: on information security and on a belt of digital neighborliness," he added.
