Li Xi, a senior Chinese official and head of the Communist Party’s anti-corruption commission, met Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk on Monday (Sep. 22). The talks followed Poland’s decision to close its eastern border with Belarus, halting rail and road traffic on a major trade route for Chinese exports to the EU.
The closure came ahead of joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises and remains in place. Lukashenko, a close ally of Vladimir Putin and Beijing, blamed Poland and said the disruption had wider geopolitical implications.
Poland, an EU member state, has been critical of Lukashenko’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine and his domestic policies. Warsaw also accuses Minsk of facilitating irregular migration across the frontier.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski recently urged his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi to pressure Moscow over what Warsaw calls a “hybrid operation”. Li did not publicly address the border issue.
Source: Bloomberg
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