(Corrects typo in ‘ally’ in first paragraph)

BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese President Xi Jinping praised Belarus as a true friend of China as he met Alexander Lukashenko, the leader of the sanctions-hit European nation, on Wednesday and urged the Russian ally to join Beijing in opposing “hegemony and bullying”.

Lukashenko’s visit to Beijing was his first since he was declared a winner of January’s presidential election that extended his 31-year rule of the former Soviet republic. Western governments had rejected his victory as a sham.

The Belarusian economy has been bruised by Western sanctions and trade tariffs due to its backing of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Severed from Western markets, Minsk, which had allowed Russian forces to use its territory to stage its invasion of Ukraine, has incre

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