China maintains good relations with Afghanistan and regularly holds ministerial meetings with its leaders (Shutterstock)

China is working to develop its diplomatic and economic ties with Afghanistan, at a time when most countries in the world have not recognized the Taliban government since its return to power, much to Kabul's relief.

China maintains good relations with Afghanistan, and regularly holds ministerial meetings and talks with its leaders on ways to develop bilateral trade, huge Chinese investment in copper, and open a road between the two countries.

While downplaying the formalities of these growing ties, Beijing is working to increase its investments in Afghanistan, a relationship that could benefit both parties, according to analysts and diplomats.

Valérie Niquet, an analyst at the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris, said that Afghanistan is a region with challenges, but the distinctive feature of the Chinese is that they go where no one goes, in an attempt to achieve gains, and she added that the Chinese are extending their hands to the Afghans who need all possible assistance.

In September, China became the first country to appoint an ambassador to Kabul, and on Tuesday, the Taliban government envoy to Beijing, along with dozens of other diplomats, presented his credentials to Chinese President Xi Jinping.

"I believe that when the concerns of all parties are further addressed, diplomatic recognition of the Afghan government will come naturally," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said.

Last month, China joined Russia in abstaining from a vote in the UN Security Council calling for, among other things, the appointment of a special envoy to Afghanistan, something the Taliban authorities strongly opposed.

But China's approach (exchanging ambassadors without official recognition) allows Beijing to maintain its relations with Afghanistan while not breaking away from the positions of the rest of the world.

natural resources

China's goal in all of this is to be able to access Afghanistan's wealth of untapped mineral resources, and to open a market for Chinese goods.

Jalal Bazwan, assistant professor of political science at Kardan University in Kabul, said Afghanistan's vast natural resources, such as copper, lithium and rare earths, have great economic potential for China.

Following his appointment as Afghanistan's ambassador to Beijing in December, Bilal Karimi held talks with the Chinese state-owned company MCC about Mes Aynak, the second largest copper reserve in the world, located about 40 kilometers from the capital, Kabul.

MCC obtained the exploitation rights in 2008 in exchange for about $3.5 billion, but the project was suspended due to war and insecurity.

The spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Mines, Humayun Afghan, said that these historical assets are a cultural treasure for Afghanistan and part of its identity.

China, hungry for hydrocarbons, is also interested in Afghan oil.

The Ministry of Mines says that since the renegotiation in January 2023 of an old contract in the Amu Basin in the northwest of the country, oil extraction operations have begun in 18 wells.

The Afghan authorities also announced Chinese companies' plans to invest half a billion dollars in solar energy in the country.

Silk Roads

Ministry of Public Works spokesman Ashraf Haq Shanas said that a 300-kilometre-long road under construction will connect Badakhshan to the Chinese border.

The two countries share a border extending only 76 kilometers, but this new link will boost trade, which is currently worth $1.5 billion annually.

As part of the rapprochement, Beijing is exercising its “soft power” over Afghanistan by providing humanitarian aid, especially after the recent deadly earthquakes. Kabul even has a simple Chinatown, which consists of two 8-storey buildings where cheap Chinese products are sold.

The phrase "Belt and Road" was written in Chinese characters on the top of the two buildings, referring to the huge infrastructure project linking China with Central Asia and the rest of the world.

Afghanistan may also be integrated into the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which forms the cornerstone of the project and leads to the strategic port of Gwadar, which gives China access to the Arabian Sea in southern Pakistan.

Bazwan concluded that Afghanistan's strategic location along the Belt and Road Initiative makes it an attractive partner.

Source: French