Belarus supports China's stand on the April 1 plane collision incident between China and the US, Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko told reporters on Friday.

"We stand on China's side, as China made no mistake in the incident (of the collision)," Lukashenko told reporters in Minsk, on the eve of his visit to Beijing scheduled for April 22-24.

He said that the US administration has made an official apology to China for the incident and admitted its faults in the case.

"A flourishing and rapidly developing great country is standing up in the world. That's China," he stressed.

China has the largest population and keeps the fastest economic growth in the world, and should be respected, he said.

China did nothing wrong both in the NATO bombing of Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia in 1999 and in the recent plane bump incident over the South China Sea, he emphasized.

He expressed sympathy to the Chinese people and extended condolences to the deceased Chinese pilot's dependents.

(Xinhua 04/22/2001)