Link to article: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-afghanistan-business-china-beijing-5b052ab24bf9d245beac99f83bfa3e9c
After the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, China’s president and chief diplomat have pledged their support for the nation now controlled by the Taliban. China’s president delivered the affirmation in the presence of diplomats that were representing Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Despite reports of women’s rights violations, China and Afghanistan assured the audience that they are committed to improving rights for all. Afghanistan’s economy is in shambles following years of sanctions from the U.S. The AP reports that 90% of its citizens live below the poverty line, exacerbated by the approximately 7 billion dollars in assets that were sanctioned by the U.S. The UN has issued warnings about the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, to which China is offering aid. As of now, China doesn’t offer humanitarian aid, unless it’s an extenuating circumstance (UN approval). China’s vows of support to Afghanistan are thought to be meant to pressure Afghanistan to curb threats of overthrows of Chinese influence in the Uyghur population of Xinjiang.
The U.S. efforts to sanction the Afghan government into submission has clearly backfired. Not only does the country have Chinese assistance, but they have adapted to survive with such a disastrous economy. The U.S.’ focus, at this point, should be stopping China from expanding economic and false humanitarian aid to other middle eastern countries. China likely has interest in the large oil supply in the region. Their interest in the region, to me, is very similar to China’s Belt and Road Initiative in several smaller countries that I have written about extensively. Additionally, the human rights case against China is strengthening, with their blatant ignorance of Afghanistan’s inequalities towards women, such as their inability to attend school beyond the sixth grade. The way for the U.S. to combat Chinese influence, in my opinion, is to reduce dependency on the country. Additionally, not taking a more assertive stance on China could potentially worsen the war between Russia and Ukraine. China has been taking a somewhat neutral stance in the Russo-Ukrainian war; but, they are more allied with Russia, and a Chinese-backed Russian war would be detrimental to European security.
As discussed in class, China and Afghanistan are allying themselves with each other because of their similar government structures. They derive their authority from similar means. Most similar between the countries is their authoritarian nature. Although the intricacies of their structures are different, their similar structures and desire to overtake the United States’ dominance over the world pair them up as good allies. Similar to discussions about enforcement from ICC and ICJ rulings, there is a lack of accountability on the international scale for human rights violations. A fair portion of the Chinese and Afghan link has to be analyzed using the normative approach, but while using the empirical approach to support analysis.