By dreamsforce.com

The US warns China against arming Russia in the Ukraine war Beijing is preparing to welcome a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the talks. This ally is the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko.

Lukashenko is scheduled to leave for China on a three-day visit on Tuesday. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China said on Monday that the President of Belarus is visiting the country at the invitation of President Xi Jinping. During this time he will meet with Chinese officials.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit was held in Uzbekistan last September. There these two leaders held a separate meeting outside the conference. During this time they agreed to upgrade the relationship between the two countries to a 'comprehensive integrated strategic partnership'. Putin was there too. Alexander Lukashenko's visit is a continuation of this visit.

China's Foreign Ministry said Monday that while the United States is pouring lethal weapons into the Ukraine conflict, China is "actively promoting peace talks and a political settlement" to end the crisis. But on Tuesday, Beijing backtracked on its demands.

China called for peace talks last Friday to end the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia. They released a 12-point proposal for a 'political solution' to the crisis. But Western leaders have widely criticized China's proposal. They think China is already on Russia's side.

Xi Jinping has not been able to speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war. However, he has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin several times on various occasions. Even at the SCO summit, the two have direct talks.

The United States and its allies have imposed sweeping sanctions on Belarus after allowing Russian troops to invade Ukraine by crossing the Ukrainian-Belarusian border north of Kyiv. Belarus' relations with Western countries and the European Union are not very good. They did not recognize Alexander Lukashenko's victory in the 2020 elections in Belarus. There were also pro-democracy protests in the country to protest the election results. Later it was severely suppressed by the government.

With the Ukraine war, there were fears that Russia might again use Belarusian soil to launch an attack, or that Belarusian troops would join the war. Until a visit to Moscow earlier this month, Alexander Lukashenko insisted there was "no chance" he would send troops to Ukraine unless his country was invaded.

According to China's state news agency Xinhua, Belarus is one of the first countries to join China's Belt and Road Development Initiative, launched a decade ago. Last year, trade between the two countries rose 33 percent from the previous year to more than $5 billion.