China to build base for Tajikistan police near Afghan border, official says
- Tajik official says Beijing is providing US$8.5 million for the outpost
- But Chinese foreign ministry spokesman ‘not aware of the situation’
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China will build a base for police in Tajikistan near the Afghan border, a Tajik official said on Thursday, amid concerns from both countries about the Taliban’s ability to keep a lid on extremist groups.
A parliamentary spokesman said Tajikistan’s lower house had approved the plan to build the base in the Ishkashim district of the mountainous Gorno-Badakhshan region.
“All construction is funded by the Chinese side. After construction, the base will be transferred to the Tajik [police],” the spokesman, who did not provide his name, said by telephone.
He said China was providing US$8.5 million in assistance for the base.
No Chinese troops will be stationed at the facility, according to Reuters, also citing a parliamentary spokesperson.
Asked about reports of the base, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters: “I am not aware of the situation you mentioned.”
While other Central Asian nations have established working ties with the new regime in Afghanistan, Tajikistan has railed against the hardliners and eschewed direct talks.
The republic’s authoritarian leader Emomali Rahmon expressed alarm about what he called “terrorist groups” positioned at points along its more than 1,300km (810-mile) border with the country.
The groups Rahmon referred to are believed to count former and current Tajik nationals among their members.
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Tajikistan, a country of 9.5 million, has received financial assistance from both China and the United States to build and reinforce its border posts and hosts a major Russian military base.
Beijing has said nothing about the reported outpost, which the International Crisis Group said in 2018 pointed to China’s “growing security presence” in former Soviet Central Asia.
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According to Russian media, the Taliban have struck an alliance with an ethnic Tajik militant group based in northern Afghanistan which seeks to overthrow Rahmon’s government.
A Russia-led regional security organisation held exercises last week near the Tajik-Afghan border, designed to demonstrate that Moscow stands ready to protect Dushanbe in the event of an incursion from the south.
China is a major investor in Tajikistan and Beijing has also acted as a donor on several occasions, handing over, for example, a new parliament building free of charge.
