Beiging Emerges As a Bridge in Afgan Peace Talks
China has positioned itself as a credible bridge-builder between Kabul and Islamabad in order to advance the Afghan peace process. China’s readiness to back Afghanistan in reviving the stalled reconciliation process between the government and the Taliban
Why China interested ?
Analysts point out that two major factors are defining China’s abiding interest in the Afghan peace process aimed at reconciliation between the elected Afghan government and the Taliban.
China has positioned itself as a credible bridge-builder between Kabul and Islamabad in order to advance the Afghan peace process. China’s readiness to back Afghanistan in reviving the stalled reconciliation process between the government and the Taliban
Why China interested ?
Analysts point out that two major factors are defining China’s abiding interest in the Afghan peace process aimed at reconciliation between the elected Afghan government and the Taliban.
First, the continuation of political fragility in Afghanistan — a recipe for sanctuaries of international terror groups, including militants from the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) — can acutely destablise western China’s Xinjiang province and its peripheral areas.
Second, the strategic Gwadar to Kashgar Economic corridor, which would, for the first time, provide China an access to the Indian Ocean, could be endangered in case of poor political cohesion in Afghanistan.
For Beijing, the Pakistan-China economic corridor is of immense geopolitical value. Close to the oil fields of the Persian Gulf, it can provide an alternate energy transit route to the Malacca Straits, which is militarily dominated by the United States.
While Pakistan has been a traditional ally, China has been recently deepening its leverages in Afghanistan. Last month, China’s visiting Vice-President, Li Yuanchao, announced in Kabul Beijing’s intent to provide $237 million of aid over three years, apart from offering $78.9 million this year for the construction of residential buildings in the country.
China is also engaging Afghanistan in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which is pillared on Beijing and Moscow, and is another major building block of the emerging Eurasia-centred political architecture. Already an observer at the SCO, Afghanistan is now seeking full membership of the grouping.
