Aleksandr Lukashenko has been balancing between Moscow and Brussels recently. Leveraging his 14-year-old son who often appears with him on state visits to extend a diplomatic gesture like this - Nikolai seems to have studied the Chinese language - seems to indicate that is seeking closer ties with China. If China is serious about wanting to strengthen its relations with Belarus, that will be an interesting thing to watch. The game Belarus has been playing is one of benefiting from subsidies from Russia in exchange for loyalty but avoiding having its state sovereignty falling under threat. The latter is accomplished by overtures and paying the role of "a bridge between the East and the West" as in providing a platform for negotiations between Western powers and Russia on the Ukrainean situation. Lukashenko is playing both Russia and the EU for economic benefits to support its state run unprofitable industries in its economy that hasn't undergone privatization on part of its key industries after the fall of communism. It seems that in China Lukashenko sees another partner help gain leverage its efforts to secure foreign support.
The key question is, however, what China is after.
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