What China thinks of Afghanistan

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What China thinks of Afghanistan

June 9, 2010

8 June 2010, Khaleej Times held an exclusive interview with Sun Weidong, Deputy Director General Asian Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, People’s Republic of China in Beijing. Following is the detailed interview listing China’s views on key political and security developments in Afghanistan and Pakistan and how to achieve stability and peace in the region.

How would you define China’s relationship with Afghanistan at this juncture?

China and Afghanistan are traditional, friendly neighbours. This year marks the 55th anniversary of China-Afghanistan diplomatic ties. Our bilateral relations have grown steadily and have good momentum. Since the peace reconstruction of Afghanistan, we have achieved new developments. In March this year, President Karzai paid a visit to China and we publicised a joint statement announcing that both sides agree to consolidate and develop a comprehensive, cooperative partnership on the basis of good neighbourliness, mutual trust, and ever lasting friendship. This marks the moving of China-Afghan relations into a new era.

China attaches great importance to the process of peace reconstruction and we have also positively participated in the process. Since 2002, we have provided altogether $180 million for assistance for Afghanistan. We also helped them to build a number of projects beneficial to the lives of the Afghan people, for example the power irrigation system and the Kabul Republic hospital.

We are also providing training for Afghan people, total number amounts to nearly 1,000 persons. This training covers several areas. In education we provide scholarships for Afghan students. We are also training civil servants and some policemen.

We also encourage Chinese enterprises and companies to go to Afghanistan for investment. This relationship is growing, it is very important and holds positive elements for peace and stability in this region.

What is significant is that China does not attach any kind of political conditions to that assistance and we respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan. We will continue to support this peace reconstruction and work together with the international community for the better future of Afghanistan.

Would China be willing to extend strategic cooperation to Afghanistan?

We have cooperation with Afghanistan in the military field and we support the building of Afghanistan’s defense force. We support the UNAMA to provide necessary assistance to Afghanistan. We have also noticed that the Afghan government is now pushing forward the National Reconciliation and Reintegration process and they are working very hard to build their own military and police force. I think this is part of the efforts to improve their domestic security situation and they have made some positive progress. We believe, that with the help of the Afghan government, people and international community, Afghanistan could safeguard its own national security.

Where does China see itself in the political future map of Afghanistan?

China adheres to the principle of non-interference into other countries domestic affairs, this applies to Afghanistan and any other country. This is the part of our five principles of peaceful co-existence. So I think China will continue to respect Afghanistan’s independence and sovereignty and we also respect the role and path the Afghan people have chosen according to their own national conditions.

I think this policy has been widely recognised and appreciated by the Afghan people and the government and I think it’s a very important reason why China enjoys very good relation with Afghanistan, so we will not change such a policy. We only look at the fundamental interest of Afghan people which is peace, stability, independence, progressiveness and also development and prosperity. So I think, if assistance between China and Afghanistan is in line with all these interests, we will continue to do so without any kind of condition. This kind of cooperation is not against any third party, that is for sure, so we may say that we will continuously be a good neighbour, a good friend and a good partner to Afghanistan

What is China’s assessment regarding exit of foreign forces starting possibly next year?

We have taken notice of those reports that foreign forces are going to withdraw from Afghanistan. There is a kind of transfer of security of responsibility from international community to Afghanistan. And we believe that it should proceed in a gradual, prudent and well planned way and the pre-requisite of the transfer should be that the country should enjoy firm security and stability before such a transfer is made.

We also believe that we cannot solve the Afghan problem by using military means, so any kind of military action should try to avoid harming innocent people. Besides, the anti-terrorism campaign should be in a comprehensive way by comprehensive means and we should try to deal with symptoms as well as the root causes of terrorism.

How does China feel about India’s growing role in Afghanistan?

As far as I know, both India and Pakistan are very influential countries towards Afghanistan. After the peace reconstruction process restarted, they both played a positive role in helping with the reconstruction of Afghanistan. We, in China, we are the direct neighbours of all three countries so we would like to see that relations among the three will be beneficial to the peace and stability of the whole region. We believe, that any country, when it develops its relationship with another country should not target the third party. We would like to work together with India and Pakistan and other countries in the region to continuously help Afghanistan’s reconstruction and work for a peaceful and stable South Asia.

Does China envision a greater role for Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the future of Afghanistan?

SCO is a very important regional cooperative mechanism, it is the biggest cooperative mechanism near Afghanistan in this region.

All six neighbouring countries of Afghanistan are members of SCO or observers so they all actively participated in this reconstruction process in Afghanistan. The SCO also established very close cooperation with Afghanistan in the fields of anti-terrorism, struggle against drugs, organised crime and related issues. It also hosted a number of international conferences on the issue.

I believe that the SCO will continuously play a bigger role in the Afghan reconstruction process in the future. And we would like to see that those mechanisms of the international community could enhance coordination so we can have a much larger say in this issue. Also, so we can fully respect and take care of the common aspirations of Afghanistan and also of its neighbours.

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How is China coping with an increase in drug trafficking?

Drug trafficking is a serious problem in South Asia and we do attach great importance to that. We have already signed cooperative agreements with Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries in the region and we have sound cooperation in the fields of intelligence sharing, assistance of facilities and training of personnel. To stop those narcotics from flowing abroad the fundamental way is to develop the economy, to improve people’s livelihoods and to eliminate poverty in these countries. That is the basic way out, so we need those states’ government and public efforts as well as the international community’s concern and support to see a South Asia free of narcotics. We will work with the international community to achieve that target.

How does China view negotiations with insurgents as part of a comprehensive strategy?

We support the Reconciliation and Reintegration plan of the Afghan government and we think that such a process should have inclusiveness and it could overtake and go beyond different nationalities, different religious beliefs and even different political sectors. That is the way long lasting and comprehensive national reconciliation could be achieved. We hope to see some positive progress in this process. We hope to see the peace jirga in Kabul bearing success.

How does China view links between organisations like East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and terror groups in the region?

We are against any sort of extremism, separatism or terrorism. The ETIM is a direct terrorist threat to China nowadays and it has also created a security threat to our neighbouring countries. It is a terrorist organisation that has been listed by the UN Security Council. We appreciate the Afghan government to provide very important support to China to fight against such terrorist forces and we are going to enhance such cooperation in this field so we can safeguard the mutual interest of security for both countries.

We also think that Pakistan is a very important country, it is frontier country in the international campaign against terrorism and it has played a very positive role in this regard. We also know that Pakistan started military actions last April in areas like Swat and South Waziristan to fight against those militants and has made some positive achievements so I think the international community should give full comments on these efforts made by Pakistan. We appreciate the efforts Pakistan made for the security of China. I think we need to respect Pakistan’s own anti-terrorism strategy. The people of Pakistan should master their own destiny and we fully understand and respect the anti-terror strategy Pakistani side has formulated on the basis of their own national condition and interest.

How does China feel about drone strikes in Pakistan and a new military offensive in North Waziristan?

The most important thing as a friend, we found, is to ensure security and stability so the country could enjoy peace, tranquility and also the development of economy and progress of society. We, in China, found that some of the root causes of terrorism are backwardness of development, of economy and society and lack of education. So military means may not be the only way out, the international community should help Pakistan to improve the livelihood of its people and support efforts to wipe these terrorists of its soil so they are unable to propagate to achieve long lasting peace in Afghanistan.

But during this process, the independence, sovereignty and the dignity of Pakistan should be fully respected. We fully respect the strategy Pakistan government and people have chosen to fight against terrorism.

We believe that Pakistan is a resilient country and has a history to overcome those challenges and difficulties. We believe that it will overcome the current challenges and will finally achieve stability and development of its country. China’s Afghan perspective Faryal Leghari. faryal@khaleejtimes.com

What China thinks of Afghanistan