- China expands influence in Afghanistan
- The meaning behind signature CCP phrases
- Huawei fires executive after autonomous driving criticism
- Taiwan pushes ahead with domestic vaccine
- Billionaire pig farmer Sun charged guilty
- Opinion: Global division of labor creates prosperity
The US leaves through the front door – China slips in through the back. Well, the current situation in Afghanistan is not quite that simple. While the withdrawal of US troops is still in progress, China’s Foreign Minister Wang is already meeting with a Taliban delegation. The downside of this move is that Wang is making the dreaded holy warriors seem respectable; on a positive note, he is urging them to submit to the Afghan government. China’s presence can do a lot of good. The new superpower is taking a completely different approach, one that perhaps acknowledges the reality in the country rather than assuming pretty theories.
During the visit, Wang assured that China would never “interfere in Afghanistan’s internal affairs”. A familiar phrase; after all, China equally demands “non-interference” from Western countries. It is a classic “Tifa,” a fixed phrase that has a special meaning in the Chinese CCP’s parlance. In all official communication by China’s leadership, the same Tifa crops up again and again. In today’s issue, we give you a brief introduction to the art of decoding China’s political verbiage. Those who are proficient at it can even derive some amusement from CCP conference speeches. You could even play “Tifa Bingo” because phrases like the “Three Tough Battles” or “Five Major Development Concepts” are guaranteed to appear.
Finn Mayer-Kuckuk
Feature
Beijing senses opportunities in Afghanistan
The withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan is in progress. All troops are to leave the country in the Hindu Kush by the end of August. This is the will of US President Joe Biden.
However, the fewer US troops in the country, the stronger terrorist groups are spreading – above all the Islamist Taliban. The self-proclaimed holy warriors are on the advance. Region by region, district by district, the Taliban are reclaiming territory from the central government in Kabul. In the past two months alone, 120 districts are said to have fallen into their hands, including most recently the Wakhan district in the province of Badakhshan, which is of strategic importance to China. Meanwhile, the Taliban claim to already control 75 percent of the country. This may be exaggerated propaganda, but one thing is certain: the last month had seen the highest casualties in two decades.
Beijing’s concerns about security and stability
Insecurity, violence, and instability are spreading. And Afghanistan’s neighbors are growing concerned that it could spread beyond the country’s borders. Beijing, in particular, is growing restless. “The arbitrary withdrawal of the Americans only leaves instability, chaos, and disaster in its wake,” judges Wang Jin, professor at Northwest University in Xi’an. It is a completely irresponsible action, and Afghanistan’s neighboring states now pay the price and try to get a grip on the situation, especially China.
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