Beijing sends in new envoy in sign it wants bigger role for Afghanistan in ‘New Silk Road’
Liu Jinsong was raised in Xinjiang and worked on the belt and road trade plan
Beijing is poised to step up security and economic engagement with Afghanistan, naming an official who has worked on President Xi Jinping’s signature trade initiative as its new envoy in Kabul.
The appointment of Liu Jinsong as ambassador is a sign that Beijing wants the war-torn nation to play a bigger role in the strategy, observers said. Liu was raised in the northwest Xinjiang region and was a director of the Silk Road Fund established under the “Belt and Road Initiative”, a sprawling plan to boost trade and infrastructure links with nations from Asia to Africa and Europe.
“The appointment of Liu is a carefully considered one – he was raised in Xinjiang and has experience in South Asia,” said Liu Zongyi, a senior fellow at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies. “China is spearheading economic cooperation and development for regional security, especially around its neighbours.”
Liu was born in eastern Zhejiang in 1972 but was raised in the restive region of Xinjiang, home to the mostly Muslim Uygur minority. Beijing has claimed Uygur extremists receive jihadist training in neighbouring countries including Pakistan and Afghanistan before returning to the region to launch violent attacks.