China vows support for Belarus' national sovereignty

BEIJING, June 29 (Reuters) - ‌China supports ​Belarus ​in safeguarding its national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, Chinese President Xi Jinping ‌told Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Beijing on ⁠Monday, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Lukashenko's visit to ‌China comes after he ‌held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.

The meeting follows mounting tension between Belarus and ​Ukraine, whose president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, says he believes Putin is trying to get Lukashenko ⁠to step up his support for Russia in its Ukraine war.

Xi said ​China and Belarus "must maintain strategic communication, promote the continuous advancement of bilateral relations ​at a high level and ‌better benefit the peoples of both countries," the ministry said on its website.

China ⁠is willing to continue providing assistance within its capacity for Belarus' development and construction, Xi said.

China-Belarus relations ⁠are at their "historic peak," the Belarusian presidential Telegram channel Pul ​Pervogo said earlier on Monday.

"This is exactly what we talked with you before," Lukashenko replied, according to the Telegram ‌post. "And perhaps, to some extent, what we had dreamed of on the eve ‌of this global cooperation between Belarus and ... China."

(Reporting ⁠by Jekaterīna Golubkova ‌in Tokyo, Farah ​Master in Hong Kong and the Beijing newsroom; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus and Jamie ‌Freed)

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