Lukashenko Speaks about Importance of Heritage, Citing China as Example

During a meeting with the Governor of Russia's Ulyanovsk Region, Alexey Russkikh, Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko cited China as an example to illustrate the importance of not rejecting one's heritage, but rather adopting the best elements from it, BelTA reports.

Alexander Lukashenko noted that Belarus strives to develop the entire industrial potential inherited from the Soviet era. "We haven't lost anything from Soviet times; we haven't shut anything down or abandoned anything. On the contrary, we have developed it. And since—as the classic saying goes—we stood on the shoulders of giants, this helped preserve what we have today. This is important for any state," the President said. "China offers a very telling example for us in this regard. I am friends with Xi Jinping, and we often discuss this topic. He frequently tells me that they didn't reject anything [in China — Ed.]: neither the era of Mao Zedong nor that of Deng Xiaoping, nor anyone else's. They took the best from everything. Just look at the results of the PRC's development. It is a leading global economy, a leading nation that everyone is compelled to reckon with. Whether you like China or not—as the Americans might feel—you have to reckon with it."

"Therefore, we shouldn't reject or cast aside the past. We need to try to utilize and build upon it. In this respect, we have achieved some success," Alexander Lukashenko noted.