Photo of Belarus' Defense Ministry
MINSK, 19 September (BelTA) – It is impossible to build a security system in Eurasia without dialogue, First Deputy Head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Andrei Matiyevich said during the 12th Beijing Xiangshan Forum, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Defense Ministry.
The Belarusian military delegation, led by Andrei Matiyevich, is participating in the 12th Xiangshan Forum in Beijing. The forum's theme is "Upholding International Order and Promoting Peaceful Development". Participants exchanged views on the most pressing issues on the international agenda.
In his report, Andrei Matiyevich outlined Belarus’ perspective on the international order, global security, and stability. He stressed that this year holds particular significance for the global community: 80 years ago, through the joint efforts of nations and peoples, Nazism, fascism, and militarism were defeated.
According to him, the system of global security established after the Second World War under the leadership of the United Nations was designed to spare future generations from the horrors of armed conflicts. “For all these years, adherence by members of the international community to the goals and principles of the UN, as the foundation of the postwar world order, has been the key factor in maintaining international security and stability. At the same time, today few would deny that the modern world is changing rapidly. The main vector of international dynamics is the drive toward a just multipolar system, based on a balance of interests among equal centers of development, respect for sovereignty, and mutual trust,” Andrei Matiyevich noted.
He stressed that, according to military experts, the number of armed conflicts worldwide has doubled over the past 15 years. Last year saw the highest number of such conflicts since 1946. Particularly striking has been the rapid increase in interstate conflicts, which in the past year reached their highest level in 35 years. Moreover, the most significant of these involved states possessing nuclear weapons.
The head of the Belarusian delegation remarked that, in addition to the unprecedented number of armed conflicts since the Second World War, the stability of the international order and global security is being undermined by a series of destabilizing processes. Among these, he highlighted the imbalance in the global economy linked to the redistribution of spheres of influence, aggressive protectionism and the consequences of sanctions pressure, the growing threats of political violence and extremism, the erosion of traditional spiritual and moral values, the weakening of international security institutions, geopolitical confrontation and bloc rivalry, as well as the resulting acceleration of the arms race, including intentions to militarize outer space and the field of information and communication technologies, among other developments.
According to Andrei Matiyevich, in the current process of shaping a new world order it is premature to speak of well-developed, ready-made solutions for building an international security architecture capable of effectively countering existing and emerging challenges and threats. He recalled that Belarus has proposed the development of a Eurasian Charter of Diversity and Multipolarity in the 21st century. It is conceived as a set of rules to build a fair and mutually beneficial continental security architecture, essential for the creation and sustainable development of nations and peoples.
“In our view, Eurasian countries, and possibly the countries of the global East and South, in fact the Global Majority, could openly and transparently draft such a document, setting out principles to build a just world order and shape the architecture of Eurasian security. Western countries, provided they abandon their confrontational stance toward the Global Majority, could also, in our view, take part in this effort,” the head of the Belarusian delegation emphasized.
Andrei Matiyevich pointed out that a necessary condition to launch the process of drafting the Eurasian Charter of Diversity and Multipolarity is the establishment of constructive, mutually respectful dialogue among all potential participants in the security system across Greater Eurasia. “As a Chinese proverb says: ‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.’ Therefore, we believe the most important thing is to begin dialogue, even if there is no guarantee it will yield substantial results,” the Belarusian representative stressed.
He added that all formats of interstate cooperation could be used to facilitate expert dialogue and evaluate proposed initiatives, including the platforms of international organizations and integration associations that form the foundation of Eurasian security: the SCO, EAEU, CIS, CSTO, and BRICS. “We are also putting forward the idea of organizing a meeting of senior officials from regional organizations (ASEAN, CSTO, SCO, CIS, CICA (Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia), and the Gulf Cooperation Council) to discuss problematic aspects of building a secure space in Eurasia,” he concluded.
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