Lukashenko With "fire Water" And Furs

The dictator's visit to China was as bizarre as possible.

This week Alexander Lukashenko made a blitz visit to China and boasted that he had achieved "great successes" there. However, no concrete agreements on the results of the visit were reported.

The Belarusian authorities have special hopes for China, but Lukashenko's visit was as strange as possible. Starting with his mysterious status.

"This is not a working visit, it is not an official visit. It is a visit for a friendly family dinner," said Deputy Prime Minister Nikolai Snopkov.

Well, actually, the results of the visit really convince us that it was neither working nor official. Nothing was reported about any agreements on the results of this visit. The Chinese press ignored it for the most part. That is, Lukashenko did have tea with Si Jinping and flew back immediately afterwards.

But on the day of his visit, immediately after his arrival, he held a meeting, as the press service reported, with Chinese business circles. However, these business circles were not named or shown to us. That is, it is not clear with whom he met. Again, the Chinese press did not report anything about the talks with Chinese business circles.

The Belarusian press reported that they were about coordination of industrial policy, and the secrecy was due to the fact that the issues discussed were too serious to be named.

"One of the main issues is the machine-building industry and technological modernization of certain areas of industry in Belarus," Lukashenko said.

It sounds vague, but the idea is generally clear. We are talking about the fact that Belarus will buy machinery, equipment and technology in China. Actually, to do everything that Belarus has been doing for the past few years. Because ever since we have quarreled with all our Western neighbors, China has become the main source of all innovations for our economy. And this can be seen very clearly in the structure of Belarusian-Chinese trade.

For four months of this year, Belarusian exports to China amounted to about $680 million. Chinese imports to Belarus amounted to two billion dollars. That is, we sold three times less goods to China than we bought in China. But it is also important what kind of goods they are.

Chinese imports to Belarus are machines, computers, monitors, engines, various equipment. That is, these are technological imports. Potash fertilizers accounted for half of Belarusian exports to China in four months. Rapeseed oil is on the second place, and wood is on the third. A classic set of raw materials.

Belarusian authorities constantly reproach the West with the fact that the West pursues a neocolonial policy. It considers all other countries as a source of raw materials and a market for its goods.

But relations between Belarus and China are a classic example of neocolonial trade. When we sell our raw materials very cheaply in exchange for the products of a much more developed industry. It's like how colonists in America exchanged obsolete muskets and firewater for furs.

"I am very grateful to my friend and colleague, a longtime friend, that he has involved Belarus in this process," Lukashenko said.

That is, Belarus has turned into a raw materials appendage of China and a market for Chinese goods. And a very small raw materials appendage. And this is a relationship of such dependence, from which there is no release in the foreseeable future. Because Belarusian exports to China are three times less than Chinese imports to Belarus. It is a classic scheme of robber colonial trade.

And no new markets will be helped by advanced Chinese technologies. Because the products made of Chinese components will be more expensive than Chinese ones. It costs something to bring components to Belarus. And on the other hand, it will be worse in quality. Because a copy is always worse than a unique original.

And of course, it is especially ironic that this happens just when the Belarusian authorities tell how they are mastering African countries with their high technologies. But at the same time they lose their own market. As in the case with the opening of the refrigerator factory of the Midea company, which will be a direct competitor of the Belarusian factory Atlant.

Felix Mirsky, "Belarusians and the market".

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