Joint Statement Between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Belarus on Further Developing the All-Weather Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Between the Two Countries in the New Era (Full Text)

 At the invitation of President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China, Aleksandr Lukashenko, President of the Republic of Belarus, will pay a state visit to the People's Republic of China from February 28 to March 2, 2023. The two heads of state held talks in a warm and friendly atmosphere, exchanged in-depth views on China-Belarus cooperation in various fields and international and regional issues of common concern, and reached broad consensus.

The two sides spoke highly of the fruitful results of cooperation and development in various fields since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries 31 years ago, and agreed that the establishment of the China-Belarus all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership jointly announced by the two heads of state in Samarkand on September 15, 2022 is a milestone. The relationship between the two countries has achieved a historic leap and has become a model for the new type of international relations. Based on the high level of cooperation between the two countries, in order to better benefit the two countries and the two peoples, the two sides agree to further develop the all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries in the new era. The statement is as follows:

1. The Belarusian side warmly congratulates the complete success of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and President Xi Jinping's re-election as the General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee. He speaks highly of the great achievements of China's economic and social development in the past 10 years in the new era, and wishes the Chinese people the great success of the Communist Party of China Under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee, we will build a modern socialist country in an all-round way, achieve the second centenary goal, and comprehensively promote the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation with Chinese-style modernization.

China speaks highly of the major achievements of the Republic of Belarus in national development and construction since its independence, respects the development path chosen by the Belarusian people in line with its own national conditions, and reiterates its support for the policies and measures adopted by the leaders of Belarus and their government to maintain national stability and development .

2. The two sides emphasized that mutual firm support on issues concerning each other's core interests is the cornerstone of the stable development of China-Belarus relations. Belarus abides by the one-China principle, recognizes the government of the People's Republic of China as the only legal government representing the whole of China, reaffirms that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory, opposes any form of "Taiwan independence", and supports all efforts made by the Chinese government to realize national reunification , Support China's position on safeguarding national security and territorial integrity, and protecting citizens' rights. China supports Belarus' efforts to maintain political stability and economic development, and opposes external forces interfering in Belarus' internal affairs under any pretext.

The two sides agreed that it is necessary to proceed from the reality of the country, explore a path of democracy and human rights development that meets the needs of the people, and resolutely oppose the practice of double standards on democracy and human rights issues and the use of democracy and human rights issues to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.

The two sides expressed serious concern over practices such as restricting the sovereign rights of other countries to independently choose the direction of political, economic and social development in accordance with the generally recognized principles of the UN Charter.

Both sides stress the importance of working together to resist illegal unilateral restrictions and pressure on sovereign and independent states.

3. The two sides agreed to further play the overall coordination role of the China-Belarus Intergovernmental Cooperation Committee to promote the comprehensive development of China-Belarus cooperation in various fields, and plan to hold the fifth meeting of the committee within this year.

Both sides welcomed the expansion of direct contacts between government departments of the two countries and the advancement of the resolution of pressing issues in bilateral cooperation.

4. The two sides are committed to deepening comprehensive cooperation within the framework of the joint construction of the "Belt and Road", continue to promote trade facilitation between the two countries, release the potential of cross-border transportation such as China-Europe Railway Express, and steadily increase the scale of bilateral trade. The two sides agreed to continuously expand mutual investment and promote cooperation between the industrial circles and financial institutions.

The two sides will carry out practical cooperation in the financial field on the basis of marketization, autonomy, and rule of law, expand the use of local currency in bilateral trade, investment and financing, support financial institutions to actively cooperate, further improve the level of financial services, and promote bilateral economic and trade development.

The two sides will expand mutual direct investment, carry out cooperation in high-tech industries, promote commercial cooperation between enterprises, and encourage entrepreneurship as priority directions for cooperation.

The two sides concluded the negotiations on the main terms of the draft text of the "Agreement on Trade in Services and Investment between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Belarus" and launched market access negotiations.

The two sides will carry out industrial cooperation between the two countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit and market principles, promote the upgrading and transformation of Belarus' traditional industries, strengthen cooperation between enterprises of the two sides in parts and raw materials, and take advantage of China's advanced technology to carry out joint production.

The two sides will be committed to promoting the active expansion of trade exchanges between departments and enterprises of the two countries.

The two sides emphasized the importance of the production and supply of agricultural products, and will continue to support the mutual export of high-quality agricultural products from China and Belarus to each other's countries.

The two parties will jointly promote the high-quality development of the China-Belarus Industrial Park and build it into an international cooperation project and a satellite city of Minsk. China encourages domestic large-scale production enterprises and high-tech enterprises to settle in the industrial park.

The two sides emphasized the importance of carrying out cooperation projects of traditional Chinese medicine in the China-Belarus Industrial Park, including attracting new enterprises and other institutions in the field of traditional Chinese medicine to participate in the cooperation.

The two sides emphasized the necessity of further developing the human resources of the China-Belarus Industrial Park, and encouraged willing and capable colleges and universities of the two countries to independently and orderly carry out industry-university-research exchanges and cooperation with the park, so as to provide high-quality talents in the new technology field for the park enterprises.

The two sides are willing to further implement the memorandum of understanding on bilateral e-commerce cooperation signed by the relevant departments of the two countries, actively carry out cooperation in the field of digital economy, encourage the development of e-commerce, and jointly promote the implementation of the global data security initiative proposed by China.

The two sides agreed to strengthen mutual communication and cooperation, speed up the implementation of ongoing projects such as the national football stadium and the international standard swimming pool, and discuss the implementation of more development cooperation projects.

The two sides support the continuation of the China-Belarus "Local Cooperation Year" in 2023, and welcome relevant places such as Tianjin, Chongqing, and Qingdao in Shandong to deepen economic and trade cooperation with Belarus.

The two sides welcome the opening of the Belarusian Consulate General in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, which includes the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Macao Special Administrative Region.

5. The two sides will take measures to strengthen transportation and logistics links to facilitate the transportation of goods.

The two sides encourage the airlines of the two countries to increase direct flights between Belarus and China in due course according to market principles.

6. The two sides will further strengthen scientific and technological cooperation, encourage the joint establishment of joint scientific research centers, laboratories and other platforms, increase investment in scientific and technological cooperation projects, and promote joint research and development of new technologies in the fields of artificial intelligence and 5G.

The first step to promote innovation cooperation is to carry out joint research and development and innovation. The two sides support the establishment of joint centers and enterprises to facilitate the commercialization of scientific and technological achievements of the two countries.

The two sides reaffirmed the importance of implementing joint science and technology programs and projects within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and in regional organizations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

The two sides are willing to expand academic research cooperation at the bilateral level and within regional multilateral mechanisms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia.

7. The two sides will strengthen cooperation in the fields of defense, justice, law enforcement and security, and deepen cooperation including military personnel training, joint combat against transnational crimes, and combating terrorism, so as to jointly prevent "color revolutions".

8. The two sides will carry out exchanges and cooperation in the fields of disaster prevention and mitigation, production safety, and emergency rescue, and carry out activities such as exchange and training, information sharing, and rescue drills, and deepen pragmatic cooperation within the framework of the "Belt and Road" international cooperation mechanism for natural disaster prevention and emergency management. cooperate.

9. The two sides are willing to strengthen practical cooperation in the fields of green, low-carbon and sustainable development, and jointly promote the formation of a new pattern of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.

The two sides are willing to strengthen the construction of greenhouse gas statistical accounting and monitoring system, establish a greenhouse gas emission trading market, promote cooperation in adaptation to climate change, and green climate investment and financing.

10. The two sides are willing to further strengthen people-to-people and cultural exchanges and expand cooperation in the fields of culture, tourism, sports, film and television, and media.

The two sides will continue to support the youth of the two countries to learn each other's national language, expand cooperation in language teaching, and further develop the Belarus Research Center in China and the Confucius Institute in Belarus. The two sides will work together to establish a regional Chinese language research center in Belarus.

11. The Belarusian side agrees with China's common values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom for all mankind. The two sides will jointly safeguard the international system with the United Nations as the core and the basic norms of international relations based on the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, uphold the spirit of San Francisco, continue to strengthen coordination and cooperation within the framework of the United Nations, and exchange views on major international and regional issues in a timely manner. coordinate position. Resolutely oppose all forms of hegemonism and power politics, including imposing illegal unilateral sanctions and restrictive measures on other countries, and work together to build a new type of international relations, deepen and expand equal, open, and cooperative global partnerships, and work together to build a community with a shared future for mankind.

The two sides strongly condemn any attempt to replace the existing international rules, order and mechanisms, and undermine the basic content of the UN Charter. They reiterated that they will promote the international community to consolidate the principles of the rule of law in international relations based on recognized principles and norms of international law, and support each other to reduce illegal unilateralism. Negative effects of restrictive measures.

12. The two sides expressed deep concern over the protracted armed conflict in the region, and looked forward to the restoration of peace in Ukraine as soon as possible to avoid escalation of the crisis. The two sides are willing to make efforts to restore regional peace.

13. The Belarusian side agrees with China's new development concept of innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing, and supports China's global development initiative. China appreciates Belarus for joining the Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative. The two sides believe that development is an important driving force to ensure the prosperity of all countries, and agree to further strengthen cooperation in key areas within the framework of global development initiatives to achieve sustainable development goals.

Belarus supports China's global security initiative. The two sides are committed to close coordination in regional and global security affairs, and agreed to strengthen synergy on global security initiatives to jointly address global challenges such as terrorism, climate change, cybersecurity, and biosecurity.

14. The two sides will continue to carry out comprehensive cooperation within multilateral frameworks such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia. China supports Belarus becoming a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as soon as possible.

15. President of the Republic of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko thanked President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China for his warm and friendly reception to the Belarus delegation, and invited President Xi Jinping to visit Belarus at a time convenient for both parties.