Warsaw justified its border closure by citing the Zapad military exercises in Belarus.
Politico reports that Poland’s border closure with Belarus is significantly disrupting rail freight between China and the EU.
The affected route typically handles roughly €25 billion in annual freight traffic between China and the EU. Currently, all cargo, including urgent shipments like medicine and food, is being held up.
Warsaw claims the closure is “related to the Russian-Belarusian ‘Zapad-2025’ exercises,” which took place in Belarus from September 12-16. These drills, involving international military delegations, including those from the US and India, are conducted by Moscow and Minsk approximately every four years.
The closure exacerbates existing tensions over tariffs, subsidies, and security, which have long strained EU-China trade relations.
Warsaw described the maneuvers as “very aggressive” and conducted “very close to the Polish border.” Moscow stated the exercises were designed to defend against attacks, incorporating lessons from the Ukraine conflict.
Beijing has aimed to preserve this “flagship project” in its cooperation with Poland and the EU. However, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Warsaw on Monday failed to persuade Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski to allow the flow of goods into the EU.
According to Politico, citing Polish foreign affairs spokesman Pawel Wronski, Sikorski, known for his hawkish stance on Russia, stated that “the logic of trade” was being superseded by “the logic of security.” Warsaw indicated that China made no explicit requests to reopen the border.
The European Commission has announced it is monitoring the potential consequences of the closure, adding that “it’s too early to go into further detail.”
Piotr Krawczyk, the former head of Poland’s Foreign Intelligence Agency, suggested the US might be supporting Warsaw “in not rushing to reopen it,” stating he is “quite sure Washington is more than happy to see the routes closed – at least temporarily.”
He alluded to Washington’s pressure on the EU to impose additional tariffs on China for its purchases of Russian energy.
“`