China has not officially recognized the Taliban as new rulers (Archive)
Beijing:
The world should guide and support Afghanistan as it moves to a new government instead of putting more pressure on it, China’s state minister and foreign minister Wang Yi said on Thursday. a call with British Secretary of State Dominic Raab.
The situation in Afghanistan, where the Taliban have regained power 20 years after being forced by a U.S.-led invasion, remains unstable and uncertain, according to Wang, China’s Foreign Ministry.
“The international community should encourage and guide it in a positive direction instead of exerting more pressure,” which will help stabilize the situation, he added, according to the ministry’s statement on the call.
China has not officially recognized the Taliban as the new rulers, but Wang last month welcomed Mullah Baradar, head of his political office in Tianjin, and said the Taliban were expected to play an important role in peace process and reconstruction of Afghanistan.
In the call with Raab, Wang also said that the international community should not use Afghanistan as a geopolitical battlefield, but should respect its independence and the will of its people, according to the ministry statement. of Foreign Affairs.
China constantly opposes foreign criticism of its own system and generally rejects international pressure on other countries as interference.
Wang added that there had been “positive signs” in Sino-British relations after a recent low point, coinciding with a previous statement by Raab that relations should be defined by cooperation, not by disagreement.
Ties with Britain worsened when China last year introduced a national security law in the former British territory of Hong Kong and have also been forced by allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang. , which Beijing denies, as well as tensions over the coronavirus pandemic.
China is ready to strengthen communication with Britain about vaccines, treatment and monitoring of virus origins, Wang said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)