The Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi flew into Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday for talks with the Taliban regime.
The two countries are establishing close relations now that the Joe Biden surrendered to the Taliban regime and left them over $80 billion in US weapons and supplies.
The Chinese are moving in where the US left off.
Deutsche Welle reported:
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi embarked on a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Thursday in an attempt to deepen political and economic ties between the two countries.
Wang met with Taliban leaders in Kabul, his first trip to the country since the fundamentalist group took control in August. Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar and Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi were two top Taliban officials present at the meeting.
What did the Chinese, Taliban leaders speak about?
During the visit, China’s top diplomat reportedly expressed concern that Afghanistan could become a staging ground for attacks by Muslim Uyghur separatists.A statement from Baradar’s office claimed that Wang had been assured over all concerns China thinks may “emerge from the soil of Afghanistan.” The statement did not mention the Uyghurs directly, however.
China’s concerns are not without reason, as the Taliban previously harbored members of the al-Qaida terrorist group when it was last in power in the early 2000’s.