On September 8, 2021, State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi attended the first meeting of the foreign ministers of Afghanistan’s neighbors by video in Beijing.
Wang Yi said that Afghanistan today stands at a crossroads in history.
The United States and its allies hurriedly withdrew, and the power politics, military intervention and so-called "democratic transformation" promoted by the United States and the West ended in failure.
However, Afghanistan still faces severe challenges such as humanity, people's livelihood, and the new crown epidemic. Some international forces may also use political, economic and financial means to create new problems for Afghanistan.
Yesterday, the Afghan Taliban announced the establishment of an interim government, and the "temporary" nature of the regime just shows that there are still many uncertainties in Afghanistan's future.
Wang Yi pointed out that, as a neighboring country, no country is more reluctant than we to see Afghanistan fall back into war and re-emergence, and no country expects more peace and development in Afghanistan than we do.
We should seize the key window period for the transition from chaos to governance in Afghanistan, and on the basis of respecting the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Afghanistan, we should exert a positive and positive influence on the development and changes of the situation.
Wang Yi emphasized that we must make an objective judgment on the historical latitude and longitude of the Afghan issue, and require the United States and its allies to learn profound lessons and assume due responsibilities.
The United States and its allies are the initiators of the Afghan issue.
In the past 20 years, the terrorist forces in Afghanistan have not been eliminated but have continued to increase. The Afghan people have not been able to achieve development and dignity, but are hovering in poverty and predicament.
The general view of the international community is that the end of military intervention by the United States and its allies should be the beginning of genuine responsibility.
They are more obligated than any other country to provide economic, livelihood and humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people. On the premise of respecting the sovereignty and independence of Afghanistan, they help Afghanistan maintain stability and prevent chaos and move towards sound development.
Wang Yi said that we should guide and urge the Afghan Taliban to unite all ethnic groups and factions, build a broad and inclusive political structure, pursue a moderate and prudent domestic and foreign policy, draw a clear line with terrorist forces, and establish and develop friendly relations with countries, especially neighboring countries.
Recently, the Taliban have made positive statements on issues such as governance, anti-terrorism, and friendly neighbors. We welcome this.
The key must be implemented in specific actions.
One of the most important is broad tolerance, and the second is resolutely combating terror.
It is hoped that the Taliban can learn from historical experience, actively interact with all ethnic groups and factions in Afghanistan during the interim government, earnestly fulfill their commitments, and strive for international recognition.
Wang Yi said that Afghanistan’s neighboring countries should play a unique role, not only to resolve their legitimate concerns, but also to provide a good external environment for the reconstruction of Afghanistan’s stability. At this stage, coordination and cooperation in six areas can be focused on:
One is to help Afghanistan strengthen the prevention and control of the epidemic.
Afghanistan is one of the countries with the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rate in the world, and the domestic epidemic is at risk of accelerated spread.
All parties can work together to continue to provide anti-epidemic supplies and technical assistance to Afghanistan.
China has decided to donate 3 million doses of vaccine to the Afghan people, and is also willing to provide Afghanistan with more anti-epidemic and emergency supplies under the China-South Asia Emergency Reserve.
The second is to keep the ports open.
Afghanistan's economic and trade exchanges are highly dependent on land ports.
We must maintain unimpeded ports with Afghanistan under the premise of ensuring the safety of all countries.
China is willing to actively study the restoration of China-Afghanistan freight trains, support other neighboring countries to strengthen customs clearance capacity building with Afghanistan, and facilitate the interaction between Afghanistan and the outside world, especially the acquisition of humanitarian supplies.
The third is to strengthen the management and control of difficult immigration.
The United States and its allies should assume the primary responsibility for solving the difficult immigration problem in Afghanistan, and at the same time provide necessary compensation to countries that are qualified and willing to accept refugees from Afghanistan.
We call on the Taliban to enhance the inclusiveness and predictability of their governance, so that the people can live and work in peace and contentment, and fundamentally reduce the occurrence of difficult immigration.
At the same time, we should vigorously support the United Nations and other multilateral mechanisms to play an active role in this regard.
The fourth is to provide humanitarian assistance as soon as possible.
Neighboring countries should help each other and extend a helping hand when the other party is in difficulty.
According to the needs of the Afghan people, China has decided to urgently provide 200 million yuan worth of food, winter supplies, vaccines and medicines.
After security and other conditions are met, China is willing to help Afghanistan build projects that help improve people’s livelihood, and, within its capacity, support Afghanistan’s peaceful reconstruction and economic development.
The fifth is to deepen anti-terrorism security cooperation.
The changes in the situation in Afghanistan have brought complex effects on the international and regional counter-terrorism situation.
We want to urge the Taliban to resolutely cut off from all extreme terrorist forces and take effective measures to restrain them.
All parties should strengthen intelligence sharing and border control cooperation, catch and eliminate terrorist groups that have sneaked in from Afghanistan in a timely manner, and ensure regional security and stability.
The sixth is to carry out anti-drug cooperation.
The Taliban recently announced that Afghanistan will no longer produce any drugs.
We should encourage and support this, and help Afghan farmers develop alternative planting, and work together to eliminate sources of drugs in the region.
At the same time, China is willing to take joint actions with all parties to combat transnational drug crimes in the region and protect the lives and health of the people in the region and social stability.
Wang Yi finally said that today’s foreign ministers’ meeting is the first attempt by Afghanistan’s neighboring countries to cope with changes in the situation in Afghanistan, and it also marks the formal establishment of the coordination and cooperation mechanism for Afghanistan’s neighboring countries.
This is very timely and necessary now.
The meeting will send out the common voice and clear political signals of Afghanistan’s neighboring countries.
China supports the continuation of this unique mechanism, through this platform to share policy ideas, coordinate each other's positions, and jointly respond to challenges.
Participants emphasized that in the face of the current changes in Afghanistan, it is necessary for Afghanistan's neighboring countries to coordinate their views and positions in a timely manner.
The international community should respect Afghanistan’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, help Afghanistan achieve security, stability and economic reconstruction, and provide emergency humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan. The United States and its allies must assume their due responsibilities in this regard.
Participants called on the future Afghan government to be open and tolerant, to reflect the representativeness of all ethnic groups and factions, and to be completely cut off from various international terrorist organizations.
All parties at the meeting positively commented on the series of consensus reached by the first Afghan neighboring foreign ministers' meeting, affirmed its unique role, and agreed to institutionalize the Afghan neighboring foreign ministers' meeting.
The first meeting of Afghanistan’s neighboring foreign ministers was chaired by Pakistani Foreign Minister Qureshi.
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Iranian Foreign Minister Abdullahhiyan, Tajikistan Foreign Minister Mukhridin, Uzbekistan Foreign Minister Kamilov, and Turkmenistan Deputy Foreign Minister Hajiyev attended the meeting.