Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close friend of Vladimir Putin, on a Wednesday state visit amid Western warnings against military help for Putin's war in Ukraine.
Official meetings between the two heads of state started after Xi Jinping and Alexander Lukashenko met each other in Beijing's Great Hall of the People on Wednesday, per Belarusian news agency Belta, as reported by CNN.
It is Xi Jinping and Alexander Lukashenko's first in-person encounter since the two presidents decided to elevate their nations' relations to an "all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership" in September, off the cuff of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan. Vladimir Putin also attended the event.
At the meeting, Xi Jinping noted that parties should abandon any "Cold War mentality" and construct a "balanced, effective and sustainable European security architecture," according to CNA.
After Russia invaded Ukraine, China's connections to Moscow have come under some scrutiny.
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China Maintains Neutrality in the Russia-Ukraine War
The Chinese government has publicly professed its neutrality in the crisis, but US officials have said that China has supplied Russia with nonlethal help and may potentially supply lethal weapons, per The Hill.
China denies aiding Russia, and US officials have warned Beijing that providing military assistance would have repercussions.
The Russia Ukraine war has been going on for more than a year, and early this month China proposed a ceasefire to bring a stop to the fighting. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signaled that he is receptive to the idea.
Lukashenko has been a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin for a long time, and he has also kept good relations with the Chinese government.
Before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February last year, the Belarusian government permitted Russian forces to congregate on its soil.
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