Image source,EPA
The picture shows in 2015, Xi Jinping and Putin shook hands after signing an agreement in the Moscow Kremlin.
While the United States and its allies are deeply troubled by the deadline for withdrawal from Afghanistan, the leaders of China and Russia discussed the situation in Afghanistan. The two countries have shown different concerns than Western countries on this issue.
Chinese state media Xinhua News Agency reported on August 25 that Xi Jinping had a telephone conversation with Putin on the same day and the two sides exchanged views on the situation in Afghanistan.
Xi Jinping stated that China “encourages all parties in Afghanistan to negotiate an open and inclusive political structure and implement moderate and stable domestic and foreign policies.”
According to Xinhua News Agency, Putin stated that Russia is willing to closely communicate and coordinate with China to prevent the spillover of security risks in Afghanistan and resist the intervention and destruction of external forces.
The day before the call between the two, the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) also held talks to discuss the issue of Afghanistan. The leaders of the United States and other Western countries present at the meeting agreed to continue to pressure the Taliban to allow Afghans who want to leave the country to leave safely after August 31.
This was not publicly mentioned in the talks between the leaders of China and Russia. The analysis generally believes that China and Russia regard the situation in Afghanistan as the defeat of the Western countries headed by the United States and hope to take the opportunity to exert their own influence. But what should not be overlooked is that after leaving Afghanistan, the United States has focused more on its strategic focus to respond to competition with China.
The temperature difference between China and Russia and the West
Unlike the Western world’s possible negative impact on human rights and women’s rights in Afghanistan that the return of the Taliban to power in the Western world, Xi Jinping and Putin’s statements on the situation in Afghanistan are more moderate.
They also signaled that China and Russia are keeping their distance from Western intervention in Afghanistan. According to Xinhua News Agency, Xi Jinping stated that China respects Afghanistan’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity and pursues a policy of non-interference in Afghanistan’s internal affairs.
Putin said that the current evolution of the situation in Afghanistan shows that “the policy of forcibly implementing its political model by external forces will not work and will only bring destruction and disaster to the relevant countries.”
Image source,xinhua
In July of this year, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (right) Tianjin personally received a high-level reception of Baradal (left), the head of the Taliban Political Committee in Afghanistan.
Unlike Western countries that have closed their embassies and evacuated personnel from Afghanistan, since the Taliban regained power, the Chinese and Russian embassies in Afghanistan have continued to operate.
The spokesperson of the Taliban Political Office in Doha also said on Twitter on August 24 that the Taliban delegation had already met with the Chinese Ambassador to Afghanistan in Kabul.
“China and the Afghan Taliban have smooth and effective communication and consultation… China respects the Afghan people to independently determine their own future and destiny, and is willing to continue to develop good-neighborly, friendly and cooperative relations with Afghanistan,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin responded to the news. Express.
Risk prevention
During the phone call, Xi Jinping also stated that China hopes that Afghanistan will be completely cut off from various terrorist organizations, and that it will “get along friendly with other countries in the world, especially neighboring countries.”
Although China has never listed the Afghan Taliban as a “terrorist” organization like Russia, but before this, the Taliban have been regarded by Beijing as a destructive force related to terrorism. The Chinese government has also accused the Taliban of providing assistance to the Xinjiang independence organization “East Turkistan Islamic Movement” (East-Iraq Movement).
According to Agence France-Presse, the Russian Kremlin said on the phone call between the heads of state of China and Russia that the two “represented that they are ready to take action to combat terrorist threats and drug smuggling from Afghanistan.” At the same time, they also talked about “preventing The unstable situation is spreading to neighboring areas.”
British foreign affairs analyst Jonathan Marcus (Jonathan Marcus) previously wrote that Russia’s main interest in Afghanistan is the security of Central Asia. Russia has established military bases in this area. Many countries in the region are former Soviet Union countries, and they are still allies of Moscow.
Opportunities for China and Russia?
The BBC foreign affairs correspondent Paul Adams analyzed that compared with the West, China and Russia have lower requirements on Afghanistan and are in a better position to exert influence in this region.
He said that the United States and its NATO allies have spent a lot of energy trying to destroy the Taliban in the past two decades, and now their status has been reduced to “bystanders”, hoping that the new ruler of Afghanistan can keep its human rights commitments.
Both China and Russia have shown their favor to the Taliban recently. Adams pointed out that China believes that the Taliban may open up Afghanistan’s rich mineral resources to China, and in the future may also turn Afghanistan into another key connection point for the “Belt and Road” initiative.
Beijing’s propaganda agencies are also trying to highlight China’s importance in Afghanistan. The CCP’s mouthpiece and nationalist tabloid “Global Times” reported on August 26 that China can be said to be the “best partner” to help Afghanistan advance its reconstruction work.
According to the Global Times, China’s “ability to maintain political neutrality, close cooperation with relevant parties, and secure diversified sources of funding” can help reduce risks that many countries cannot mitigate, while China’s “close cooperation and common interests” with Russia It will also “play an important role” in the future reconstruction of Afghanistan.
However, Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asian project of the US “German Marshall Foundation”, told the BBC that American allies will be assured that Washington will now focus more on the Asian region and competition with China.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has stated that the plan to withdraw troops from Afghanistan is in line with the Biden administration’s goal of focusing resources on China and the new crown epidemic.