Chinese FM visits Kabul to hold talks with counterpart
BEIJING: Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi landed in Kabul on Thursday to meet his Afghan counterpart, the highest-level visit by a Chinese official since the Taliban swept to power in August, 2021.
“Chinese foreign minister arrives in Kabul for talks with Islamic Emirate leaders,” Ahmad Yasir, a top Taliban government official, tweeted.
Wang arrived in Kabul from Islamabad where he attended a two-day meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and Pakistan Day celebrations. Wang, is on a South Asia tour during which he has been to Pakistan and will visit Nepal between March 25 and 27.
Wang is expected to reach New Delhi on Thursday night.
There’s been no official word from either New Delhi or Beijing about Wang’s India visit though news reports have said it was finalised at China’s request.
Beijing has remained tightlipped about the details of Wang’s ongoing tour, and China’s official media has released statements and reports only after his meetings with the Pakistani leadership were over.
Wang’s Afghanistan visit will be a short but crucial one, given the Taliban government has been working on being diplomatically recognised by China and restarting work at the embassy in Beijing.
Wang’s visit comes in the backdrop of talks being held to resume copper mining in Mes Aynak, in Afghanistan’s Logar region.
According to a Tolo News agency report earlier this month, the Taliban government has asked China Metallurgical Group Corp (MCC Group) to pursue the project that’s been stalled for years. “The agreements signed in May 2008 between the then Western-backed Afghan government and the MCC Group, called for the Chinese side to pay $400 million a year for a 30-year mining concession,” the report said.