September 23, Pozirk. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has directed the interior ministry to open the border with Belarus at 1 a.m. on September 25, tvn24.pl reported.
He said both railway and road checkpoints will open.
The decision comes amid concern in China over Poland’s decision to shut all border checkpoints on September 12 over security concerns in connection with the Belarusian-Russian exercise Zapad-2025, which began on the same day and concluded on September 16.
Chinese officials visited both Poland and Belarus in the ten days to discuss border opening.
Relations between Minsk and Warsaw, already strained by irregular migration and Belarus’ refusal to release journalist and Polish minority activist Andrzej Poczobut from prison, have worsened this month following the arrest of Polish national Grzegorz Gaweł in Lepel, Viciebsk region, the expulsion of a Belarusian diplomat from Poland, and heightened tensions between Poland and Russia after an unprecedented incursion of military drones into Polish territory.
On September 17, Politico reported that the border closure affects the trade route carrying 90 percent of rail freight between China and the EU.
Yesterday, Belarusian leader Alaksandar Łukašenka condemned Poland’s move as an unfriendly act toward China during a meeting with Li Xi, a high-ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.
“I realize that this is most likely an unfriendly move by the Poles—a political act against the People’s Republic of China or perhaps a move designed to boost their image, as the Poles believe,” his press office quoted him as saying. “But it is by no means an economic move, because an empire like China will easily cope with this problem.”
“Poland is acting like a show horse for the benefit of other countries,” Łukašenka added.
