OREANDA-NEWS. May 21, 2013. Belarus expects tighter military and technical cooperation with the People’s Republic of China. The statement was made by President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko as he met with Colonel-General Xu Qiliang, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People’s Republic of China, in Minsk.

“We have several interesting joint projects. I am ready, if necessary, to discuss prospects of these projects today and the progress in implementing them. Frankly speaking, we have strong expectations regarding tighter military and technical cooperation between Belarus and the PRC for the sake of enhancing our defensive capability,” said the Belarus President.

Alexander Lukashenko remarked that visits of China’s top military indicate the trustful cooperation between the two countries in this area. “Our trade, economic, political cooperation, which is manifested as the exchange of very high level visits among other things, indicates that we have established very tight relations of strategic nature and Belarus appreciates it a lot,” stressed the Belarusian head of state.

In turn, Xu Qiliang remarked that the goal of his visit is to bolster the strategic trust between Belarus and the PRC and to enhance cooperation in civil and military areas as well as the traditionally friendly relations. He underlined that both Belarus and China pay close attention to the advancement of strategic cooperation.

Xu Qiliang also extended the best wishes to Alexander Lukashenko on behalf of PRC President Xi Jinping.