中文
By Seymur Mammadov
On February 28, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko will arrive in Beijing for a three-day state visit, which has expectedly caused a mixed reaction in the West, and insinuations are already spreading around it although there is nothing incredible or unexpected in Lukashenko's decision to visit China.
It will be a meeting of two old and good friends, which was inevitable after the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit last September in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. It should be reminded that at the summit the procedure for admission of Belarus to the permanent membership of the organization was launched, so we can expect that contacts between Beijing and Minsk would become more active.
On the sidelines of the SCO summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Lukashenko had signed a joint declaration on taking relations to a new level of comprehensive strategic partnership. This week in Beijing, the two leaders will continue discussions along these lines.
With their diplomatic relations established 30 years ago, cooperation between China and Belarus has a long history, and are not directed against anyone else. China provided Belarus with free technical and economic assistance, and their foreign trade turnover in 2020 hit a record of $5.4 billion. Since 1993, their trade turnover has grown more than 130 times as the total volume of Chinese investments in Belarus has exceeded 2.6 billion, according to Belarusian Deputy Economy Minister Alesya Abramenko.
With the participation of Chinese capital, more than 50 projects and business initiatives are being implemented in the Eastern European country in the fields of industry, agriculture, logistics, e-commerce, medicine, and education.
China and Belarus have been steadily, constructively and dynamically cooperating within the United Nations, giving each other firm support in the Human Rights Council, fighting together in the international arena against double standards and advocating dialogue. China and Belarus cooperate within the framework of the SCO and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia.
Joining the SCO as a full member opens up great prospects for Belarus. On February 9, President Lukashenko signed a decree approving a draft memorandum of commitments undertaken by the country as a member state of the SCO. That means serious work is underway, which requires, among other things, close contacts between the top officials of states.
The SCO is very important for Belarus as an international structure that is gaining strength, capable of making serious adjustments to world processes and solving the most pressing problems.
Guests walk past the boost of Belarus at the 2021 Shanghai Cooperation Organization International Investment and Trade Expo in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, April 26, 2021. [Photo/Xinhua]
In the modern world, when contradictions between different players are intensifying, when the norms and principles of international law are being seriously tested, a lot of things depend on the effectiveness of regional platforms, where the participants in regional politics interact. The SCO as a platform for security and cooperation is of particular interest to countries striving for peace and cooperation.
All these parameters are very important today, when Eurasia is going through a serious geopolitical crisis. Belarus is at the epicenter of events, and it is important for it not to let itself be isolated. In principle, these processes did not start today; they have been going on for several years.
The expansion of NATO to the East has created a certain threat for Belarus, which does not fit into the picture of the world as the West sees it. Now, in connection with the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the country is between two fires. Large NATO military forces are concentrated on its western borders – in Poland and the Baltic countries– with constant and unprecedented pressure exerted on it.
So far, Minsk has managed to hold on, not to succumb to provocations, in order to prevent internal destabilization and sudden movements. The complicated situation forced Belarus to speed up the process of its accession to the SCO.
As Belarus also has a lot to offer considering their products are of very high quality, the country can easily find new partners in the SCO. Trade and economic opportunities that open up for the country in the East are much broader and more promising.
In addition, by joining the SCO, Belarus will also feel the political support of strong partners. The SCO unites countries cooperating on the basis of equality, the realization of their national interests, and the preservation of an independent policy and sovereignty. Belarus' accession to the SCO will be a trigger for the development of trade and economic ties, industry, scientific, technical and humanitarian progress, as well as ensuring national security and strengthening the country's position on the world stage.
And yet, the expansion of the SCO is a natural and inevitable process, and not machinations of China, allegedly creating a kind of counterbalance to the interests of the United States and Europe. China and its partners are opening up new opportunities for the world, and now there will be a share of the Republic of Belarus in this work.
Seymur Mammadov is the director of the international expert club EurAsiaAz and editor-in-chief of Azerbaijan news agency Baku Tribune.
