China and Belarus sign deal to tackle democracy activists

LEADERS of China and Belarus pledged to work together to fight grassroots democracy movements, months after Beijing faced protests against Covid restrictions and two years after the Belarusian dictator was almost toppled.

Alexander Lukashenko, a Putin ally known as the last dictator of Europe, met Xi Jinping in Beijing where they signed a defence deal and committed to crushing “colour revolutions”.

The meeting took place yesterday while Vladimir Putin waits for the Chinese leader to visit Moscow.

Mr Lukashenko, who owes his political survival to the Putin regime, backed China’s peace plan for Ukraine, saying other countries need to work to keep the world from “plunging into a global conflict” at “an extremely difficult time that calls for unorthodox approaches”.

After the talks the two leaders signed a flurry of deals, most of them non-binding memoranda, as well as a political statement that pledged to fight grassroots democracy movements. China and Belarus pledged to boost co-operation between their defence and law enforcement agencies as well as “join efforts in fighting international crime and terrorism and carry out work to prevent colour revolutions”.

The term was coined by the Kremlin in the early 2000s to deride opposition protests in former Soviet states, from Georgia to Ukraine, that led to a change of government.

In January, China faced rare street protests as citizens demanded an end to Draconian lockdown restrictions.

Mr Lukashenko himself was nearly toppled by weeks of nationwide protests last year before Putin stepped in to pledge his support.

Yesterday, the Russian president promised to show Mr Xi Moscow’s new metro line, as he waits for Beijing to set a date for a much-anticipated visit. A state-owned Chinese company was involved in the construction.

China has blamed the West for instigating the war in Ukraine but it has not offered its full support to Russia.