KABUL (SW) – After the collapse of the Republic in 2021, China was one of the handful of countries that endorsed the new government in Afghanistan and the Islamic Emirate has maintained close ties with Beijing.
In the past two years, both the Islamic Emirate and China have tried to maintain and even expand these relations despite the fact that China has not yet officially recognized the Islamic Emirate.
In the latest case oof these efforts, Zhao Xing, the newly appointed ambassador of China in Kabul, said in a meeting with the Acting Minister of Interior Affairs, Sirajuddin Haqqani, that he has a mission to maintain good and close relations between China and Afghanistan. He emphasized that his country has no will to interfere in Afghanistan’s internal affairs.
In a part of the Ministry of Interior’s newsletter that was distributed about this meeting, Zhao Xing said: “Afghanistan and China are two good neighbors of each other. China has always fully respected Afghanistan’s independence, beliefs and culture.”
In this meeting, Sirajuddin Haqqani welcomed China’s approach towards Afghanistan.
However, a number of political experts believe that China’s economic interests and goals determine the level of this country’s relations with Afghanistan, and that this country’s approach to relations with Afghanistan is economy-oriented.
Weis Naseri, an expert on political issues, told Salam Watandar that China, with every government and military that has been ruling in Afghanistan for the past 40 years, has tried to physically enter the battlefield and conflict in Afghanistan, and only for political interests. “And it has pursued its economy in Afghanistan,” he said.
But Forozan, another expert on political issues, said that China does not care much about which government governs a country with what kind of policy. “As long as China has access to mines, nothing matters to them,” he said.
It should be mentioned that some countries like China have always tried to improve relations with the Islamic Emirate in the past two years, but so far none of these countries are ready to recognize the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Currently, China is involved in oil extraction in Sar-e-Pul and copper mining in Logar.
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