As the U.S. Leaves Afghanistan, China Enters; China Emerging as a Strategic Winner in U.S. Rout in Afghanistan

llustration by Linas Garsys / The Washington Times

As the U.S. leaves Afghanistan, China enters:

China is engaging with the Taliban and monitoring developments on the ground as the U.S. exits Afghanistan. It’s a situation America should be closely monitoring.

China‘s interests in Afghanistan are primarily security-related. The stabilization of Afghanistan, with which Beijing shares a short border in a susceptible area (Xinjiang province), is important for China. The security of its borders and this region are at stake. Beijing wants to prevent a surge of violent jihadism in Xinjiang, where Chinese authorities have detained between 1 and 3 million Muslims (Uyghurs, Kazakhs, …) for “re-education” in the largest mass incarceration of people on religious grounds since World War II.

The CCP must avoid threats from Islamic radicalism but also drug trafficking that may emanate from Afghanistan. Beijing also intends to protect its economic interests developed during the 2000s in Central Asia, which are added, under the presidency of Xi Jinping, those linked to the Belt and Road initiative (BRI). In the latter case, given developments in Afghanistan, Beijing particularly wants to preserve its heavy investments in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is supposed to be the flagship of its BRI initiative. It is already encountering numerous difficulties. --->READ MORE HERE

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China emerging as a strategic winner in U.S. rout in Afghanistan:

China will gain strategically from the removal of troops from Afghanistan after the stunning collapse of the U.S.-backed government and military there, American analysts say.

But that success will be balanced against the ruling Communist Party‘s fear of contending with a radical Islamic state on its border in Central Asia and the potential flow of terrorists into China‘s Xinjiang province.

Militarily, the Taliban takeover of the Southwest Asian state means Beijing can celebrate the removal of U.S. troops and accompanying spy bases from its western border. Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders have long regarded the presence of American and NATO troops in Afghanistan as a major threat.

Afghanistan has a limited border with China through a strip of land known as the Wakhan Corridor linking the country to Xinjiang, where Uyghur Muslims face what the State Department calls genocide carried out under the guise of Chinese anti-terrorism policies.

With the withdrawal of American troops, however, Beijing faces the threat of a hostile, Taliban-led Islamic state on its border with Xinjiang and other western provinces. --->READ MORE HERE

Follow link below to a related story:

China eyes economic opportunity in Taliban-run Afghanistan

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