China Grants First Formal State Recognition to Afghan Taliban Regime

China has become the first country to officially recognize the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

On the 31st, Xinhua News Agency reported that President Xi Jinping received credentials from Bilal Karimi, the newly appointed Afghan ambassador, along with ambassadors from 42 other countries at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing the previous day. Credentials are submitted by the head of state of the sending country to inform the receiving head of state of the appointment of a diplomat and to request recognition of their diplomatic status.

With this, China has become the first country in the international community to accept an ambassador from the Taliban government since the Taliban regained power in August 2021. By recognizing the Afghan ambassador stationed in China, it has effectively officially recognized the Afghan Taliban regime. China had already dispatched Zhao Xing as the new ambassador to Afghanistan in September last year.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a regular briefing that in response to the question, "Is China officially recognizing the Taliban government?" that "China's acceptance of the credentials presented by the newly appointed ambassador to China sent by the Afghan interim government and the official letter submitted to China's national leader is a normal diplomatic procedure."

Spokesperson Wang emphasized, "China is a traditional friendly neighbor of Afghanistan," adding, "China has pursued a friendly diplomatic policy toward the Afghan people and has maintained diplomatic relations and exchanges and cooperation in various fields with Afghanistan."

When further questioned about the recognition of the Taliban government, he continued, "China has consistently believed that Afghanistan should not be excluded from the international community," and added, "(The international community) should jointly assist in Afghanistan's reconstruction and development, and Afghanistan is expected to better meet the expectations of the international community by establishing an open and inclusive political structure and implementing moderate and moderate domestic and foreign policies."

Earlier, Ambassador Karimi had been stationed in Beijing since December last year and was already performing his duties as ambassador amid a warm welcome from the Chinese side.

After regaining power in 2021, the Taliban changed the country's official name from the "Islamic Republic of Afghanistan" to the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" and strictly restricted women's education and other rights under Islamic law.

Because of this, the international community has taken the position of not recognizing the Taliban government, but China has expressed support for the Taliban and is expanding its influence by strengthening economic cooperation.

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