One friendship, one path

On similarities in worldviews between Belarus and China, ideological foundation and great prospects for co-operation

At the heart of Minsk and Beijing’s contacts lie respect for traditional values and cultures, non-interference in internal affairs and working for the benefit of their peoples. What plans in the humanitarian sphere have been outlined for the future?

  













Belarusian National Biotechnology Corporation (BNBC) in                    International standard swimming pool built by Chinese 
Pukhovichi District of Minsk Region    Aleksandr Kulevsky              construction company                       Ilya Shvedko 

Dripping water pierces stone

A common trait of Belarusian and Chinese state power is the unique character of democracy, distinct from the Western model. We do not impose our principles on anyone. However, we also reject external pressure in the information, military, electoral and humanitarian spheres. The strategic partnership between Belarus and China guarantees the stability and continuity of our state models, which are based on traditional values, rather than on so-called Western public policy. In our countries, the scenario where NGOs would determine the political course of the state or large corporations would push society towards war or a hostile policy towards allies is impossible. 

Hence the difference in the humanitarian soft power employed by the West and by China vis-à-vis Belarus. For us, it involves technologies that we share with friends, while the West operates through sanctions and restricting access to innovation. 

Thus, as soon as Western companies left the Belarusian market, their niche was logically and firmly occupied by Chinese manufacturers of automobiles, software and microelectronics, which undoubtedly benefited our state, including with regard to the successful combatting sanctions policies against Belarus. Today, high-tech products manufactured at Belarusian enterprises include Chinese components. This is the result of strategic co-operation between our countries in the scientific field, which is also part of joint humanitarian projects. During the formation of the scientific and industrial complex in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), we shared certain competencies with this state — for example, in the field of the military-industrial complex and mechanical engineering — and now individual provinces of the PRC have reached a global level of co-operation with Belarus and are re-exporting technologies to our country.
Another promising sector is biotechnology. China’s domestic food market is vast, and thanks to advanced scientific developments in chemistry and fertilisers, Belarus’ raw materials sector has good prospects there. Today, Belarusian scientists are working on international projects aimed at the common good, because the West has come close to the threshold of food wars and control of global transit routes to provoke famine in many regions of the world. This is their profoundly anti-human and inhumane project — in contrast to what we are doing. The West’s policy is aimed at destruction, whereas ours is aimed at creation. 

Solid alliance 

Currently, more than 12,000 Chinese students are studying in Belarus. They value our country for its safety, friendliness and comfort, among other things. Among Belarusians, the popularity of Chinese cuisine and Chinese restaurants is growing, garnering hundreds of excellent reviews. The resorts of the Celestial Empire, which can compete with the best global brands, have taken a special place in the leisure of our citizens. Sanya Island has become a popular and affordable tourist destination, where Belarusians are attracted not only by nature, but also by technology. Tourism and humanitarian co-operation are primarily interaction between our countries at the level of ordinary people, which is an essential component for building close interstate relations. The average Belarusian is similar to the average Chinese person, because for us, building our own housing, starting a family and hard work are basic values, the same for any Chinese province and any Belarusian town, while Western globalisation imposes childlessness, gender reassignment and so on. 

The reason for such a similar worldview of the Belarusians and Chinese is the special path that our countries have jointly taken under the leadership of Aleksandr Lukashenko and Chairman of the PRC Xi Jinping. At certain milestones, our leaders made choices about how to build relations with the collective West in order not to lose sovereignty.

Our leaders have weathered pressure, information and tariff wars, and stood firm in this struggle, strengthening our alliance — an all-weather and comprehensive strategic partnership, the highest level of trust.

Worthy response

In the last century, our peoples were subjected to genocide and attempts at colonisation by fascist Germany and militarist Japan. China, like Belarus, suffered enormous losses. The ideology of Nazism is banned and recognised as extremist in our countries. We also view Western projects in the same way, through the prism of the fact that these people once tried to bring us their values, which ended in the world’s heaviest losses. Unlike other Eastern European countries, Belarus has never rewritten history or desecrated military graves dating back to the Great Patriotic War. Belarusians highly appreciate the shrewd and balanced position of the PRC with regard to the actions of the current U.S. administration, whereas Belarus’ neighbours — Lithuania and Poland — have clearly unbalanced their policies to please the new ‘master’. 

Belarus and the PRC are responding appropriately to the actions of the collective West. When necessary, this response is firm, and when necessary — ironic, yet it is always measured and effective. At the same time, politicians from the ‘golden billion’ countries continue to ignite wars, strive to economically weaken competitors and cut them off from markets, raw materials and trade routes. This no longer works, though. The world has changed. Other poles of power are strengthening. A new world order is being formed, including with the active participation of Minsk and Beijing.

President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko adheres to a value-based and ideological worldview that aligns with the line of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which, among other things, ensures fundamental ideological and humanitarian co-operation between our leaders. While the first pages of relations between China and sovereign Belarus have already been written and become golden, the next generation will continue an even closer union basing on the currently existing humanitarian foundation.

AI EVERYWHERE

Chinese mass culture is also becoming a common global asset — from Labubu dolls and children’s goods to TV series, serious cinematography and large science fiction films. All of this is successfully competing with Western counterparts today and creating an image of a Great China in miniature. In addition, right now, artificial intelligence is becoming the backbone of cinema, the internet and the entertainment industry, generating videos, content, and even writing scenario plans for TV series — and the Celestial Empire is doing a lot here too.

SYMBOL OF PROGRESS 

China is becoming the embodiment of global humanitarian and technical achievements. At the same time, Belarus’ strategic ally, unlike the West, does not try to export its political model to anyone, even though the structure of the Celestial Empire unequivocally symbolises progress, the community of common destiny for mankind and humanism.

By Sergei Klishevich, deputy of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus