Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said he may launch political reform following the country’s parliamentary elections this fall.
Speaking during a meeting celebrating 20 years of diplomatic relations between Belarus and China on Thursday, Lukashenko said he would “think seriously” about reforming the ex-Soviet state’s “political system” after a parliamentary vote in September.
“We study trends in the world and, of course, we will try to keep up [with them] and modernize our country,” Lukashenko, Belarus’ president since 1994, said. However, he added that his country was not in urgent need of reform.
The former collective farm boss also said that Belarus would look to China for guidance in its relationship with the West and in its internal affairs.
"China teaches us what to do, how to develop our relationship with the Americans," Lukashenko said.
He also praised China's tight controls on the Internet, saying they helped sustain stability there.
"The Internet is still a kind of interesting toy in the hands of the world community," Lukashenko said. "But later people will get used to it and it will be like a newspaper and cease to be important to people's lives."
Earlier this month, Belarus adopted a controversial new law restricting access to foreign websites.
Last month, a Ukrainian women’s group claimed Belarusian police kidnapped and abused three of its members after a topless protest in the capital, Minsk.
Lukashenko, described by the United States as “Europe’s last dictator,” is subject to a series of sanctions by Western governments over a brutal crackdown on protests against his disputed re-election as president in December 2010.
Speaking after a wave of public protests against his rule in July last year, Lukashenko defended his tough stance, saying he would not allow protesters to "impose uncertainty and turbulence" in the country.
