China and Belarus carry out military maneuvers along the border with NATO and the European Union

() – China and Belarus announced the holding of joint military maneuvers a few kilometers from the border with Poland, a member country of NATO and the European Union (EU).

The Belarusian Defense Ministry said troops from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army arrived in Belarus over the weekend. He published a series of photographs showing Chinese troops unloading material from a military plane and stated that the exercises will last 11 days, from Monday to July 19.

NATO and the EU have long accused Belarus of militarizing the border by pushing asylum seekers from third countries to cross into Poland, and the joint exercises will no doubt be seen by some as a new provocation, especially as they come on the eve of NATO’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington and the day Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visits Poland.

has contacted NATO for comment.

China’s Defense Ministry said Sunday that the drills will include “hostage rescue operations and counterterrorism missions.”

“The training aims to improve the training levels and coordination capabilities of the participating troops, as well as deepen practical cooperation between the armies of both countries,” he added.

The maneuvers take place near the city of Brest, on the border between Belarus and Poland, about 130 kilometers from the Polish capital, Warsaw, and about 40 kilometers from Minsk’s border with Ukraine.

Belarus is Russia’s closest and most important ally in its war against Ukraine. Moscow partly used Belarus as a launching pad for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, after amassing troops on the Ukrainian border during what it said were joint military exercises.

Chinese troops arrived in Belarus a few days after this country joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on Thursday.

Founded in 2001 by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to combat terrorism and promote border security, the SCO has grown in recent years as Beijing and Moscow push for a transformation of the bloc from a regional security club focused on Central Asia to become a geopolitical counterweight to Western institutions led by the United States and its allies.