China's Xi holds talks with Belarusian president Lukashenko – SUCH TV

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko have called for a ceasefire and negotiations to bring about a political settlement to the Ukraine conflict at talks in Beijing.

According to international media reports, the two leaders issued a joint statement on Wednesday in which they expressed “deep concern about the development of the armed conflict in the European region and extreme interest in the soonest possible establishment of peace in Ukraine”.

“Belarus and China are interested in averting an escalation of the crisis and ready to make efforts to restore regional peace and order,” it added.

Their summit brought together two of the foreign leaders on whom Russian President Vladimir Putin is most reliant for support as his army struggles to achieve the goals of its year-old invasion.

Beijing has become increasingly vocal in calling for peace as the Ukraine conflict drags on, and denied it would provide arms to Moscow after US officials said China was considering doing so.

Last week, it issued a 12-point paper calling for a comprehensive ceasefire in Ukraine that largely summarised China’s previous stance and met scepticism in the West.

In televised comments, Xi said China was eager to strengthen trust and cooperation with Belarus “given the instability and turbulence of the international situation”.

In a clear reference to the US and its allies, Xi added, “relevant countries should stop politicising and using the world economy as their tool, and take measures that truly advance a cease-fire and stop to war and resolve the crisis peacefully.”

Lukashenko said the meeting was taking place “in a very complicated time” and was necessary to prevent “an uncontrolled descent into a global confrontation which has no winners”.

He said Xi, in his peace plan, had “clearly, definitively, pointedly declared this to the international community.

China has long had a close relationship with Lukashenko, and following their talks, the two leaders oversaw the signing of a raft of cooperation agreements in areas ranging from agriculture to customs enforcement and sports.

However, the Belarusian leader’s trip also illustrated the depth of Beijing’s ties to Russian leader Putin and his allies.