China and Belarus count Russia as a mutual friend and since the invasion of Ukraine have edged closer together.

Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian president, met Chinese leader Xi Jinping twice last year in a bid to expand trade ties and revive an economy crippled by Western sanctions over his support for Vladimir Putin’s war.

On Thursday, Belarus was admitted to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), an economic-military group focused on Central Asia and headed by Beijing and Moscow. The SCO also includes Iran, India and Pakistan as members.

At the SCO summit in Kazakhstan, Mr Xi called on member states to “join hands to resist external interference” by increasing military and intelligence contact.

The Belarusian Ministry of Defence did not give further details about its joint exercises, but China’s state-run Global Times reported that they would be held at a training base near the EU border.