China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi in surprise visit to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan

Focus on mining and infrastructure projects in first major visit by China since the return of the Taliban

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday made a surprise visit to Kabul, travelling to the Afghan capital following his visit to Pakistan and en route to New Delhi where he is expected to arrive on Thursday evening. 

This is the first major visit to Afghanistan from China since the return of the Taliban and the fall of Kabul in August 2021. Mr. Wang has, however, engaged with the Taliban previously, hosting a delegation led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in Tianjin near Beijing in July last year, shortly before the Taliban takeover. 

While most countries, including India, closed their embassies as Kabul fell, China underlined its comfort with the Taliban by keeping its mission open, and in recent months, the Taliban has courted Chinese investment, although Beijing has only provided limited financial support so far amid the unprecedented economic and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

This month, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum said talks were under way with China’s Metallurgical Group Corporation over re-starting work in the massive Mes Aynak copper mine and that a Chinese team would arrive end-March. “They will be physically in Kabul in March and will discuss the issue with the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum,” Esmatullah Borhan, spokesman of the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, told Afghanistan’s TOLO News, with plans to resume a stalled project that includes “construction of a railway from Torkham border to Hairatan Port, a thermal power plant with a capacity of four hundred megawatts, the construction of Mes Aynak road, and copper processing inside Afghanistan”.

The security situation there, however, remains a concern for Chinese companies, an issue that is expected to figure in Mr. Wang’s short visit. 

The Chinese Foreign Minister, in Pakistan earlier this week, discussed with Prime Minister Imran Khan plans to extend the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan. The Chinese Foreign Ministry quoted Mr. Khan as saying that “China-Afghanistan-Pakistan cooperation is conducive to stability in Afghanistan and its role as a hub in regional connectivity” and that Pakistan “is ready to work with China to jointly advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and extend the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan.”

China and Pakistan have previously spoken about aligning their Afghanistan strategies, with both sharing good relations with the Taliban.