China denies that it will send troops to Afghanistan
CHINA has denied that it is planning to deploy troops to Afghanistan and said the neighbours are engaged merely in “normal military and security cooperation”.
Defence Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said reports that hundreds of People’s Liberation Army soldiers are to man a base in eastern Afghanistan are “simply not true”.
China shares a narrow border with Afghanistan in the remote Wakhan corridor region and is wary of the country’s violence and chronic instability overflowing into its restless Xinjiang region. However, Mr Wu said China, like other nations, is helping Afghanistan increase its defence capabilities, particularly in the area of counter-terrorism.
“China and Afghanistan have normal military and security cooperation,” he said.
Afghanistan’s ambassador to China, Janan Mosazai, said this week that Beijing is helping Afghanistan set up a mountain brigade to bolster counter-terrorism operations but that no Chinese troops would be stationed in the country.
“While the Afghan government appreciates this Chinese assistance and our two militaries are working in close coordination on utilising this assistance, there will be no Chinese military personnel of any kind involved in this process on Afghan soil,” Mr Mosazai said.
China has sought to increase its presence in Afghanistan, including in dialogue with the Taliban, after 17 years of Western involvement that has left the country still at war.
With Pakistan, Iran and Russia, it is gaining a growing influence even as the US spends billions of dollars to support the Afghan National Security Forces, which are struggling to contain an energised Taliban.
Despite the denials of Chinese military activity in the area, unconfirmed reports have shown what appear to be Chinese military vehicles operating in the Wakhan corridor, which lies in the shadow of the Hindu Kush mountains with Tajikistan to the north and Pakistan to the south.
Along with military assistance, China has provided equipment and training to Afghanistan’s government as it seeks to secure the border and gain economic benefits within the country. Those include the Mes Aynak copper deposit, believed to contain about 450 million tons of the metal worth tens of billions of pounds.
Poor security and economic chaos in the country have prevented progress on the mine.