KABUL: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi landed in Kabul on Thursday in an unannounced trip, a day after he attended the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) moot in Islamabad.
Yi’s visit is the first by a senior Chinese minister to Afghanistan after Taliban seized power in Kabul in August. The Chinese Foreign Minister’s visit come after he completed his three-day visit to Pakistan where he held discussions with the country’s top leadership.
He was received by Afghanistan’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on arrival in Kabul. The two sides are expected to hold talks on issues focusing on China’s role in stability and development, the state news agency reported. The Taliban has courted Chinese investment in recent months.
Earlier this month, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum said talks were underway with Beijing over resuming work in the massive copper mine.
This visit also comes at the heels of Wang Yi’s expected visit to India to hold talks with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar. This will be the first high profile and a physical meeting between the leaders of both countries after the Galwan clash and the beginning of the border stand-off that started in May 2020.
The main aim of Wang’s visit is to restart physical engagement and also invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a BRICS meeting to be hosted by Beijing later this year. It is pertinent to mention that the India-China stand-off at the border is continuing as multiple rounds of military and diplomatic discussions did not reap results.
India has called for complete disengagement in eastern Ladakh at all friction points. The 15th round of Corps Commander level talks between India and China was held at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point on the Indian side on March 11, 2022. (ANI)
Comment