[Epoch Times, August 26, 2021]On August 25, the Chinese Communist Party media Xinhua News Agency reported that Xi Jinping had a phone conversation with Russian President Putin, “exchanging in-depth views on the situation in Afghanistan,” and said on behalf of Putin, “Russia and China are in Afghanistan. Have similar positions and common interests on the issue.” However, Russia’s statement expresses a statement that it is not “similar” to the CCP. Not only are the two parties different from each other, there is no “common interest” in reality.
Xinhua News Agency once again promoted the China-Russia “comprehensive strategic partnership” relationship in a high-profile manner, “and said that China is willing to deepen cooperation in vaccine R&D and production with Russia.” However, the Russian statement did not mention anti-epidemic cooperation at all, let alone vaccine cooperation.
Xinhua News Agency also repeated Xi Jinping’s theory of “sovereignty” and said instead of Putin, “Russia firmly adheres to the one-China policy and firmly supports China’s efforts to safeguard its core interests on issues related to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and the South China Sea. It is a legitimate stand and firmly opposes any external forces interfering in China’s internal affairs and opposing the politicization of the source of the new crown virus.” There is no similar content in the Russian statement.
According to Xinhua News Agency, “Xi Jinping emphasized that China respects Afghanistan’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, pursues a policy of non-interference in Afghanistan’s internal affairs, and has always played a constructive role in the political settlement of the Afghan issue. China is willing to work with all parties in the international community, including Russia. Strengthen communication and coordination, encourage all parties in Afghanistan to negotiate to build an open and inclusive political structure, and implement moderate and stable domestic and foreign policies.”
In this paragraph of self-contradiction, it first said that it would “not interfere” in the internal affairs of Afghanistan, and then it said that China and Russia would “coordinate” with all parties to “build” a political structure and “implement a moderate and steady domestic and foreign policy”. This is tantamount to hope that China and Russia will jointly control the political situation in Afghanistan. But Russia’s statement contains no similar statements at all, saying only that it “is willing to intensify efforts to deal with the threats of terrorism and drug trafficking originating in Afghanistan, and emphasizes the importance of achieving peace as soon as possible and preventing the spread of instability to neighboring areas”.
On the point of preventing the spread of terrorism and the situation, Russia and the Western countries are on the surface closer. Although Russia does not name the Taliban, most countries tend to identify the Taliban as a terrorist organization. The CCP openly supports the Taliban and antagonizes the United States and the West. In fact, it also contradicts Russia’s position. Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan are obviously inclined to support the “Northern Alliance” that opposes the Taliban. This organization represents the minorities of Afghanistan, such as Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.
The CCP has long secretly supported the Taliban against the United States and the former Afghan government. Now that the United States has withdrawn, the Taliban is eager to take power. The CCP clearly wants to support and control the Taliban regime. Russia and Central Asian countries support the Taliban opposition. Not only do China and Russia have no “common interests” in Afghanistan, they actually have “different interests”, so it is difficult for them to have “similar” positions.
On August 24, Putin also had a phone conversation with Indian Prime Minister Modi. The Russian statement stated that on the Afghan issue, “we need to work together to help establish peace and stability in Afghanistan and ensure regional security. The two sides expressed their determination to strengthen cooperation against the spread of terrorist ideology and the threat of drugs from Afghan territory.”
The cooperation between Russia and India seems to be more in-depth than the cooperation with the CCP. The Russian statement also called for the further development of a “Russian-Indian special privileged partnership” (Russian-Indian special privileged partnership). In Russia’s statement the next day, it only called “Russian-Chinese strategic partnership” (Russian-Chinese strategic partnership). The Sino-Russian relationship, which the CCP has repeatedly promoted in a high profile, is only a general strategic partnership in Russia’s view, and it is neither special nor prioritized.
Russia attaches importance to its relations with India earlier than the United States. India has good relations with the United States and Russia. India actually supports the “Northern Alliance” in Afghanistan; the CCP should have nothing to say with India on the issue of Afghanistan. The Iranian government supported by the CCP is Islamic Shia, and the Sunni Taliban should not be able to truly come together; the Pakistani government should lean towards the Taliban, but the Taliban in Pakistan are more like anti-Pakistan government organizations.
On August 24, the leaders of the Western Group of Seven (G7) made a statement after a video conference stating that “to prevent humanitarian crises as much as possible”, “Afghanistan must never become a safe haven for terrorism again, nor a terrorist attack on others. “Source”; and hope to “protect the human rights of all Afghans” and “allow unhindered and unconditional humanitarian assistance”; “The top priority is to ensure that our citizens and those who have cooperated with us and assisted our efforts in the past two decades The Afghans were safely evacuated”.
Western countries will not return to Afghanistan and only promise to continue to provide humanitarian assistance. US President Biden reiterated that he will not delay the withdrawal deadline on August 31. German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated most candidly that the entire League of Nations “remarkably underestimated” the speed of the downfall of the Afghan government and “reserved as much as possible our achievements in the reform of Afghanistan in the past 20 years.”
The United States and the West no longer look at the backyard for the CCP. When the CCP is preparing to take care of the backyard, the surrounding forces also want to insert a foot. Regardless of whether the Taliban are really obedient or not, the CCP cannot and dare not give up Afghanistan, and it is now in a quagmire; the relationship between the CCP and Russia and other so-called allies has also begun to become messy.
——The Epoch Times debut
Editor in charge: Gao Yi#
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