China Offers the Taliban a Warm Welcome While Urging Peace Talks

Worried about the war in Afghanistan, China has stepped up diplomatic efforts with the government and the group to encourage a political settlement after the U.S. withdrawal.

China offered a high-profile public stage to the Taliban on Wednesday, declaring that the group rapidly retaking large parts of Afghanistan would play “an important role in the process of peaceful reconciliation and reconstruction” of the country. Chinese officials began two days of talks with a delegation of Taliban leaders in Tianjin, a coastal city in northeastern China, significantly raising the group’s international stature after steady military gains that have taken advantage of the withdrawal of American and NATO combat forces from Afghanistan. China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, called the Taliban “a pivotal military and political force,” but urged their leaders “to hold high the banner of peace talks,” according to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.