Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Taliban representatives during a trip to Qatar. In the meeting, Wang stressed that the Taliban should “demonstrate openness and tolerance", unite all ethnic groups and protect the rights of women and children. He also expressed hope that they would crack down on East Turkestan Islamic Movement and other terrorist organisations that pose risks to China’s national security, Xinhua news agency reported.
Beijing long opposed operations by US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, with which it shares a narrow border. It has kept its embassy open in Kabul, but has not recognised the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan. It has urged the group not to provide a safe haven for Islamic militants seeking independence for the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang.
"Since August this year, the situation in Afghanistan has undergone fundamental changes and the Afghan people have a historic opportunity to independently decide the country's destiny. Meanwhile, however, they still face many difficulties and challenges and are in urgent need of external support," Wang said. "As a traditional friendly neighbor and partner of Afghanistan, China always called for dialogue and contact to guide the development of the Afghan situation in a positive direction and help the Afghan people to get over difficulties," he said.
Wang had met with a delegation led by a top Taliban leader, Abdul Ghani Baradar, in July in the Chinese city of Tianjin, shortly before the group seized power from Afghanistan's elected government. At that meeting, Wang referred to the Taliban as a pivotal military and political force in Afghanistan that is expected to play an important role in the process of peace, reconciliation and reconstruction.
