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Why China and Russia might find common security ground in Afghanistan
- As US forces pull out of the Central Asian state, China is concerned that ETIM could use the area to launch attacks in Xinjiang and elsewhere
- Russia also has interests in the area, including keeping drug smuggling at bay
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Common fears about instability in Central Asia could push China and Russia towards closer counterterrorism cooperation in the aftermath of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, according to observers.
US President Joe Biden has ordered the US troops to leave Afghanistan by September but the end of the 20-year American presence is leaving a power vacuum for the Taliban to fill.
The Taliban has control of a large part of Afghanistan, which shares a long border with the far western Chinese region of Xinjiang. Chinese authorities claim that the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) has used Afghanistan as a base to train Uygur separatists for attacks in Xinjiang.
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Why Afghanistan matters to China as US withdraws from war-torn country
Why Afghanistan matters to China as US withdraws from war-torn country
Zhou Chenming, a researcher from the Yuan Wang military science and technology institute in Beijing, said China was worried that extreme and terrorist forces in Central Asia would use the withdrawal to mount attacks on Xinjiang or its investments in the region.
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An estimated 1 million Chinese nationals live in the five Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan – most of them operating small businesses.
“What China is concerned about is the development of ETIM, which Beijing has repeatedly blamed for violent acts in Xinjiang and elsewhere,” Zhou said.
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“[It is also worried about] how to protect investment by small and medium-sized Chinese enterprises in the region as part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.”
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