An op-ed about China's response to the Taliban government
By: Yuyu Fu
Disclaimer: This is a subjective,
biased, and opinion-based article.
On August 21, the CCP’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi met Baradar, who is in the second-in-command for the Taliban in Tianjin, China. The meeting was harmonious. The CCP claimed that China would never intervene in Afghanistan or other country’s politics and China forever believes the fate of Afghanistan is in the hands of the Afghan people. The Taliban also claimed that it will never let anyone use the land of Afghanistan to do anything to harm China's interests. Moreover, the Taliban promised that it will help to clear “Uighur terrorists” on the border.
To a certain extent, the CCP has already acknowledged the Taliban as the legal government of Afghanistan. A subtle appellation that appeared in Chinese media to refer to the Taliban is “Ah Ta ''. In Chinese, a name that starts with “Ah” is very intimate. Two things are revealed here: first, China will likely be one of the first countries to completely declare the legality of the Taliban as a national government and it will benefit more from its trades and intercourses with Afghanistan. Second, to create effective propaganda, the Chinese media uses the appellation “Ah Ta” rather than “Taliban” to give the Chinese public a sense that “Ah Ta” is different from “Taliban” because it is okay for the CCP to support the new “Ah Ta” who kicked the US army out of Afghanistan but not the old “Taliban” who destroyed the Bamiyan buddha and forbidden girls to go schools. Even for people who understand the new “Ah Ta” is the “Taliban”, Chinese media still managed to create the impression that this “Ah Ta” Taliban would be much more inclusive, mild, and secular.
A professor from Fudan University (the third top university in China and the best university in Shanghai) commented:“ We (China) do not care who rules the country, as long as it doesn’t affect China, we basically do not care about other countries’ politics.” He was being a bit too radical…… For five thousand years, China has cared about the Middle East as it established the Silk Road. China cares about the West, as every local Chinese student is required to learn English for 12 years... It just never cared as much as the US did.
Personally, “thanks” to the recent events in Afghanistan, I can finally see some key differences between the world’s current two “superpowers”: the US and China. No matter for what purpose, modern imperialism, financial support, building allies, human rights affairs, the US has intervened in many countries’ politics in the past century. It helps the US to become the figure of “world’s policeman” but the cost it has on the US treasury and manpower is unimaginable. However, China makes vague claims and stays away from all the chaos. China is always China. It did not like to intervene in the issues of others (Central Asia, West Asia) during the Han and Tang dynasties. Today is no different, it only wants peace and prosperity at home.
Sources:
Grossman, Derek. "China and the Taliban Begin Their Romance." Foreign Policy, 21 July 2021, foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/21/china-taliban-afghanistan-biden-troop-withdrawal-belt-road-geopolitics-strategy/. Accessed 9 Oct. 2021.
Wong, Catherine. "China to Support Taliban in Afghanistan, but Demands End to ETIM Ties." South China Morning Post, 28 July 2021, www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3142826/taliban-leader-arrives-china-talks-foreign-minister-wang-yi. Accessed 7 Oct. 2021.
"China to Support Taliban in Afghanistan, but Demands End to ETIM Ties." South China Morning Post, 28 July 2021, www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3142826/taliban-leader-arrives-china-talks-foreign-minister-wang-yi. Accessed 8 Oct. 2021.
Comments