"China Will Not Rush to Recognize Taliban as Legitimate Government"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Amid ongoing turmoil following the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, there is speculation that China will not rush to decide whether to formally recognize the Taliban as a legitimate government.

On the 28th, Hong Kong media outlet South China Morning Post (SCMP) cited Chinese diplomatic sources and expert opinions, reporting that although China was one of the countries to communicate with the Taliban early on, it has yet to formally recognize the Taliban as a legitimate government.

China maintains a stance of non-interference in internal affairs and employs political and economic means in accordance with the "constructive engagement" approach proposed by Wang Yi (王毅), China's State Councilor and Foreign Minister, in 2017 regarding the Afghan issue. An anonymous source familiar with the formulation of Chinese foreign policy stated, "China is not rushing and is carefully observing the situation." Another source said, "China will not take the lead in recognizing the Taliban as a legitimate government. It will be similar to how it deals with the (Myanmar) military junta. China communicates well with the military government and understands each other, but China has not taken the lead in recognizing the military junta."

Sources believe that China will also consider the international community's perspective before approving the Taliban government. The United Nations Security Council continues to maintain sanctions against the Taliban, and the World Bank has suspended funding to Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover. A source evaluated, "It does not seem likely that UN Security Council sanctions will be lifted easily in the near term, but the Security Council's stance is an important indicator to watch."

For China, the possibility that the Taliban might support terrorist activities within China by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which advocates for the independence of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is also a reason why recognizing the Taliban government is difficult. Chinese experts, considering Afghanistan's strategic location and border security, believe China needs to carefully formulate its policies. They emphasize that China should not promise more than it can deliver to the Taliban and avoid repeating the mistakes made by other countries, such as the United States, that intervened in Afghanistan.

Professor Pang Zhongying (龐中英) of China Ocean University said, "Many Chinese scholars talk about the lesson of the 'graveyard of empires,' where several great powers intervened in Afghanistan and failed," emphasizing that China should not rush regarding the Afghan issue. Ye Hailin (葉海林) of the South Asia Editorial Department at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences stated that China's main interest in Afghanistan lies in the economic sector, adding, "China's involvement will differ from that of the United States, focusing on reconstruction and economic development."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.