Expert: China sees Belarus as equal partner for development of new weapons

Military-technical co-operation between Belarus and China is gaining momentum, since the Belarusian President did not allow the destruction of the country's military-industrial complex, which it inherited from the BSSR after the collapse of the Soviet Union – as noted by Aleksei Avdonin, an expert at the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies, in his talk with Alfa Radio

Earlier, Belarus’ Defence Ministry reported that Minsk and Beijing will develop a roadmap in the field of military and military-technical co-operation, and the relevant agreement was reached during a meeting of Belarusian Defence Minister Viktor Khrenin and a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Deputy Chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, Zhang Youxia.

“Military-technical co-operation means an increase in the technological level of development of the two countries. Subsequently, military technologies are very successfully used in the real economy for production of microelectronics and household appliances. Investments in weapons have traditionally led to a surge in economic development and an increase in people’s welfare. This is how our society works. Military-technical co-operation between Belarus and China is gaining momentum, because our President has not destroyed the military-industrial complex that the republic inherited from the BSSR after the collapse of the Soviet Union over the years of Belarus’ independence,” Mr. Avdonin noted.

The expert recalled that, in the post-Soviet space, Western advisers tried to do everything to plant the idea of peace and the uselessness of their own military-industrial complex through their non-governmental backgrounds. “They urged to destroy the military-industrial complex and deal purely with the economy, but we see that the countries that were able to ensure the development of their defence companies are now the most defence-capable states. If we did not have that high level of development of our military-industrial complex, it is unclear how the situation would develop in 2020 and in the future, when such a significant grouping of NATO forces and equipment is concentrated on our borders," he stressed.

Returning to the topic of co-operation between Belarus and China, Mr. Avdonin noted, “This is an equal co-operation. China sees us not just as a buyer of weapons, but as an equal partner with whom it is possible to develop and create new models of weapons and military equipment. Our task now is to ensure a high technological level. We see how rapidly technologies are changing based on new principles of armed conflict. We must not miss this moment so that we do not produce old samples, but modernise them regularly. We can do this within the framework of close co-operation with such giants as China.”