View: Is China’s defence of Taliban optimism or a hard choice?

In a call with the British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on 19th August, 2021, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi asserted that ‘the international community should encourage and guide it in a positive direction instead of exerting more pressure,’ implying that supporting the ‘new’ government would be far more conducive to peace in Afghanistan. He was also quoted in a foreign ministry statement as saying that Afghanistan should not be treated as a geopolitical battleground, and that ‘the will of its people’ should be respected.

The statement came close on the heels of a recent discussion in UN Security council, wherein a formal statement drafted by Estonia and Norway to condemn Taliban was put up for perusal. The draft, according to UN diplomats, intended to criticize the Taliban for their ‘attacks on cities and towns causing high civilian casualties, and threatened sanctions ‘for abuses and acts that risk Afghanistan’s peace and stability’.

Since the withdrawal of US troops was announced, Taliban has quickly gained ground in Afghanistan. By August 8th, Taliban seized Zaranj, the capital of Afghanistan’s Nimroz province, and further attacked Sheberghan, capital of Jowzjan province and Lashkar Gah in Helmand, with designs on other provincial capitals. Further on August 15th, Taliban invaded the presidential palace in Kabul, and by August 16th, Taliban had full control over the capital city as well.

This has raised significant international alarm. The US embassy criticized the attacks in Nimroz, Jowzjan and Helmand provinces, and G7 countries made several calls against violence in the South Asian country.

The Taliban offensive gained a greater international flavour, as one of the major negotiation points during the Doha Peace talks was on Taliban agreeing to a ‘negotiated settlement’ with all stakeholders, including the Afghan government in Kabul. The gains in territory, contrary to Taliban’s promises in Doha, were violent in nature, and the Afghan president was forced to flee, which has made the point of negotiations, moot.

As a result, there is increasing pressure on the international body to not recognize the emerging power centre in the form of Taliban as Afghanistan’s government. The formal draft in UNSC, to this fashion, also ‘strongly’ affirmed that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (Taliban’s chosen name for an Afghanistan ruled by it) is “not recognized at the United Nations, and declares that it does not and will not support the establishment of any government in Afghanistan imposed through military force or restoration of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.” This statement is still under discussion.

In this context, China’s statements regarding ‘guiding’ Taliban as a positive influence do seem odd. After all, the terror organization had blatantly flouted major rules of engagement agreed upon in Doha, which was to be cornerstone of its acceptance within and outside of Afghanistan’s borders. Thus, it makes little sense for the international order to support formation of any government in Afghanistan which is dominated by those who have already reneged on a major international agreement. Yet China seems to be peddling in favour of Taliban — as if breaking away from the ideals of Doha, attacking cities, and destroying a civilian government with military action are merely infantile mistakes that ought to be forgiven.

Chinese statements about ‘will of the Afghan people’ also is ignorant at best and malicious at worst, as it glosses over the humanitarian cost of Taliban’s actions. The attacks for territorial grab have led to massive damage to life and property, with the extreme poor being forced out in parks and streets without proper food or shelter. Many Afghans, fearing the rise of Taliban, have started fleeing in droves, with military aircraft running evacuation at least since Kabul fell to Taliban. There are also uncertainties about women and girls; while Taliban has promised them the right to education and work, it is ‘within confines of Sharia law’.

Experts suggest that Taliban follows its own version of the Shariat, most of which is far more regressive than the original version itself. The news from provinces indicate that Taliban, like it’s an iteration from 20 years ago, has been forcing women to stay at home, depriving girls of education, forcefully marrying them to Taliban soldiers or selling into sexual servitude. While this is muted in Kabul due to the presence of journalists, there is already information coming through about female journalists going missing.

Puzzlingly, there are attempts within China to ‘white wash’ Taliban. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the ‘new Taliban’ is more ‘clearheaded’ than during its first stint in power two decades ago, and called it a group formed by ‘students in refugee camps’ that has been at war with the US since the 9/11 attacks.

In doing so, China is not only deleting Taliban’s history of terrorism, but also painting them as heroes and the US as culprits for the current unrest. There are also indications that China has been trying to suppress questions about the future of women under Taliban, as a plea by a woman Afghan filmmaker for the world to pay attention to her country was scrubbed from Chinese social media sites.

These issues have brought forth the question regarding Beijing’s motivation for supporting Taliban. China has held a consistent view against foreign criticism of its own system, and extends it globally by deeming international pressure on other countries as ‘interference’. China has already started courting Taliban, even though they have not yet recognized its government, and have dangled the promise of investments and partnerships in lieu of Taliban’s help in refusing refuge to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which Beijing deems as a Uyghur separatist force. Additionally, much as Taliban has a history of human rights violations, so does China, and by condoning criticism of Taliban, Beijing may end up inviting scrutiny on Tibet and Xinjiang atrocities as well.

Additionally, the sexual assault and rape lawsuits on a major AliBaba Group Holding Ltd. employee and celebrity Kris Wu respectively, have led to scruitiny of its deeply entrenched patriarchy, and the role of those in power on its perpetuation. China accepting Taliban’s grand, and obviously empty, promises of giving rights and protection to women would bring their own weak perception of women’s rights in clear view.

It is clear that Beijing is either blindly optimistic about Taliban (an unlikely situation, given their previous caution regarding the chaos Taliban’s emergence will bring to its borders), or calculative enough to promote Taliban in order to justify the extremist policy decisions on its own soil. Beijing has always been seen as a master of its own interest, and promoting Taliban despite the human costs seems to fit that image. As the situation in Kabul unfolds and more news of terrorists crawling the streets come to light, Chinese opinions seem to have made it clear that it is satisfied looking at the ensuing fireworks, and caring not about the ignition.