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Afghanistan
ChinaDiplomacy

Turmoil in Afghanistan binding China and Russia even closer

  • Top diplomats of Beijing and Moscow pledge to protect interests in Afghanistan and urge the Taliban to cut terror links
  • Western efforts to divide ‘trustworthy, reliable and invincible’ partners will not succeed, Chinese foreign minister says of Russia ties

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Foreign ministers Sergey Lavrov of Russia (left) and Wang Yi of China meet in the Chinese city of Guilin on March 22. In a phone call on Monday, the top diplomats pledged to work together to protect national interests in Afghanistan. Photo: AFP
Catherine Wong

The swift fall of Kabul has pushed China and Russia to strengthen their alliance, with both sides pledging to work together to protect their interests in Afghanistan.

Safeguarding China’s business interests in Afghanistan and preventing a spillover of conflict into its far western region of Xinjiang are priorities for Beijing, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in a phone call on Monday, after the Taliban takeover of the Afghan capital signalled the end of a 20-year US era.

The two top diplomats also pledged to boost bilateral relations – describing ties as unshakeable and surpassing other alliances made during the Cold War era – in a pointed comment targeting the US.

Wang, also a state councillor of China, said the sudden collapse of the US-backed Afghan government had been“inevitable” and was proof of the failure of American hegemony.

“It has been the international consensus that this ending has its inner logic and inevitability, and proves that military intervention and hegemony are unpopular [courses of action] and doomed to fail,” Wang was quoted as saying in a statement released by the Chinese foreign ministry on Tuesday.

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Taliban says ‘war is over’ in Afghanistan and now time for group to serve the nation

Taliban says ‘war is over’ in Afghanistan and now time for group to serve the nation
In a separate phone call on Monday with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Wang said Beijing was willing to work with Washington to achieve a “soft landing” for Afghanistan.
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