bIsing has promised the Taliban that he will Increase China Pakistan Economic Corridor for Afghanistan under the Belt and Road Initiative. Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang met his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Afghan Interim Government Amir Khan Muttaki in Islamabad – and pledged to bring the fruits of the BRI to Kabul.
Beijing’s plan to link CPEC with Afghanistan will bring more Chinese security forces to the Khunjerab Pass at the Pamir knot – undermining India’s strategic location in South Asia.
Khunjerab Pass adds up Pakistan’s Karakoram Highway along China’s southwestern border. In Tajik, ‘Khunjarab’ means ‘blood-stained road’. The pass is built over Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, which India considers a part of its territory.
China has not only deployed People’s Liberation Army (PLA) forces in eastern Ladakh – keeping India in mind – but also forces in the immediate neighborhood of Aksai Chin to protect Beijing’s economic interests – including the CPEC .
“The three parties reaffirmed their support for Afghanistan in realizing its full potential as a regional connectivity hub,” Said Fifth China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue
This tripartite mechanism was first introduced in 2017. Pakistan has an equally important interest in stabilizing Afghanistan’s economy in order to sell Beijing a new regional deal of economic connectivity.
several experts There are doubts about Beijing’s ability to stabilize Taliban-run Afghanistan and extract large deposits of minerals – a reasonable assessment given the US experience in the country.
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India has other concerns
Indian officials have underestimated the potential impact of these efforts in Afghanistan, an argument shared by some experts. somewhere,
“This is the wrong time to invest in CPEC in Afghanistan. China wants to build large-scale ports, roads, container depots etc. in Afghanistan, but this will not be possible. The Afghans are not interested,” an unnamed Indian official Said News18 network. China wants assurance of security before moving ahead in Afghanistan. Neither Kabul nor Islamabad can give this assurance. couple,
For India, there are other more immediate concerns related to its border dispute in Ladakh. Beijing will only use the connectivity to secure territory north of eastern Ladakh, which links China with Pakistan.
The three sides emphasized that they will promote ‘hard connectivity’ of infrastructure and ‘soft connectivity’ of rules and standards and explore ways to facilitate movement of people and trade activities. The three sides decided to upgrade the level of re-export trade at Gwadar Port,” said the joint statement of the tripartite meeting.
However, the project that Beijing will now promote to bring the BRI to Afghanistan involves construction ports and depots Along the Jalalabad-Kabul road, which Beijing helped build.
“China supports the extension of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the China-Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor to Afghanistan, and to promote synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and Afghanistan’s development strategies and support the smooth operation is ready. China-Afghanistan freight train services, to help Afghanistan better integrate into the regional economic integration process,” said a statement issued after the meeting of China and Central Asian countries in April 2022 under the Tunshi initiative.
These connectivity efforts are being made to allow Chinese companies to tap the wealth of Kabul.
Recently, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum suggested that a Chinese company called Gochin was planning to invest $10 billion for mining lithium reserves.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry only indirectly confirmed the investment talks.
“China supports Chinese companies to cooperate with Afghanistan in line with market principles, and is playing a constructive role in helping Afghanistan rebuild its economy and achieve self-built and sustained development. I am not aware of the specific project you mentioned,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.
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Xi aims big
These connectivity projects have a broader strategic goal for Xi Jinping – with a game plan in Central Asia. Xi is set to host the China-Central Asia Summit in Xi’an on May 18-19. The securitization of Afghanistan is only one part of Beijing’s long-term plan to move westward into Central Asia.
funded by a Chinese government Study suggested building a second capital closer to Urumqi in Xinjiang to “rebalance the gravity of the country’s economic center and create new opportunities for development”.
The risk of extending CPEC to Afghanistan remains, as evidenced by the December 2022 attack on a hostel in Kabul injuring five Chinese nationals. But these attacks only provide a reason for Beijing to expand its security parameters in Afghanistan through the Khunjerab Pass.
“What excites the officers and soldiers is that the way they guard the border has also changed tremendously: the construction of ‘smart border defence’ has accelerated, and surveillance and duty facilities have been continuously upgraded Since the company implemented information-based charging, its efficiency and operational efficiency have improved.” Said An article about PLA forces guarding the Khunjrab Pass.
India’s military and security establishment cannot wait to see Beijing fail in its connectivity projects in Afghanistan. Securing the Khunjrab Pass – and the rest of the Pamir knot – will keep the India-China border dispute alive over the gesture of bringing the BRI into Afghanistan.
The writer is a columnist and freelance journalist. He was previously China media correspondent with the BBC World Service. He is currently a MOFA Taiwan Fellow based in Taipei and tweets @aadilbrar. Thoughts are personal.