Belarus and China may step up cooperation in the field of armaments

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko begins his state visit to China on Wednesday. Its goal is to attract Chinese investment to Belarus and negotiate possible cooperation in the military industry.

One of the main areas of cooperation with Beijing is the Belarusian-Chinese industrial park under Minsk, which has been under construction for several years. The President will try to increase investment attraction.

The industrial park in Big Stone should be the flagship of Chinese investment in Belarus. It was created in accordance with a 2010 intergovernmental agreement and will operate on the basis of a special economic zone, offering a wide range of incentives for entrepreneurs. It should be a major logistics industrial center that will complement the New Silk Road and be able to use the potential of Belarus as an intermediary between China and the EU.

In this context, Belarus assumed the role of Ukraine, which was supposed to act as a business belt connecting the EU with the new Silk Road, but in light of the events in Ukraine, China had to change its plans, as a political scientist from the PAP Center for European Integration explains.

The authorities in Minsk are counting on China to become something of a strategic investor that will support the Belarusian economy in a broader sense, for example, by assisting in the restructuring of key enterprises.

The expert explains that, considering Belarus as a partner, China should take into account such risk factors as not modernized, a bureaucratic economy and energy dependence on Russia, and on the other hand, the possibility of repeating the Ukrainian scenario and potential problems associated with this.

The delegation of the Belarusian president, among other things, includes the chairman of the state military-industrial committee. Joint projects in the field of the military industry are one of the most promising areas of Belarusian-Chinese cooperation. The main events of Lukashenka's visit to China are negotiations with the president and prime minister of this country. He will also meet with other officials and give a lecture at Peking University.