Although Belarus has a small land area and a small population, it is an important passage from the Eurasian continent to the European Union and the ports of the Atlantic Ocean. It is an important hub connecting the Baltic and Black Sea countries and is known as the "cross corridor" of Eurasian transportation.
It is precisely because of its special geographical location that Belarus has become an unavoidable route for China's various China-Europe freight trains to Europe, with multiple border crossing points. Among them, the Belarusian border city of Brest is just 9 kilometers away from the Polish border city of Malaszewiche, the gateway to Europe for the China-Europe freight train. Many China-Europe freight trains will choose to complete the change in Brest, Belarus.
In late May, Belarusian authorities took away a rebel member of an Aer Lingus flight after it was asked to make an "emergency landing" in Belarus. The incident then spread in Europe and America. In the past month, European and US parties have been increasingly imposing sanctions on Belarus. The latest news on 24 June is that the EU has introduced a series of new measures to impose targeted sanctions on the Belarusian state economy.
"Europe needs freight trains now and will not target the Belarusian railway industry with sanctions," a source said. In addition, in addition to the China-Europe freight trains bound for Europe passing through Belarus, a large number of rail transshipment goods from Russia's Far East ports to Europe also enter the EU through Belarus. No so-called ban on rail transport has been heard from any side at present. And the ban on air travel only applies to passengers. The number of passengers is not large, so the impact will be limited."
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Thursday that he opposes outside interference in Belarus' internal affairs. Zhao said that China always opposes the willful use of unilateral sanctions or the threat of sanctions in international relations, opposes external forces' interference in Belarus' internal affairs, and respects the development path chosen independently by Belarus in light of its national conditions. China believes that the Belarusian people can maintain political stability and social tranquility through their own efforts and hopes that the international community will play a constructive role in this regard.