China's strategy in Afghanistan.
- Thread starter ohan_qwe
- Start date
Meh, there's always going to be problems and violence in certain places in the world. When I was younger and stupider, I blamed it on the usual hobbyhorses: Western exploitation, colonialism, imperialism, intervention, etc. Nowadays I think that if that those factors are secondary. The much more important factor is culture - some cultures are failures and others are successes.
Case in point: China. China was a victim of all the Western imperialism you please and look at it today. Even better, it didn't have a BRI to lift it up, it had to climb out of the hole by itself.
We're long past the days when CPEC mattered for anything. Today we have countries like Saudi Arabia and a smattering of European countries like Hungary joining the BRI. Much more successful countries are hopping on the China bandwagon, but that doesn't mean China is turning its back to anyone. If the loser countries ever decide that economic development is more important than their endless petty squabbling, China is always ready to lend them a helping hand. Otherwise, they're more than welcome to continue digging the hole they're in deeper.
What problems? Why we acting as if this is Ukraine-Russia border where there is active war.. Yes some misunderstanding occured in this incident between individuals not state actors which is resolved. Afghanistan and Pakistan aren't going to go to war ever because both sides stands to lose alot forget about CPEC it is irrelevant but Afghanistan and Pakistan has alot more at stake to simply just go to war it does them no favor which is why both elites are on good terms because they are both winning in status-quo otherwise if they were to collide they will both lose. None of them seeks to expand as their current boundaries is to large to roam and bigger then them to fill out.
The only thing that fails here is the chinese culture if it fails to understand it's role and commitments which is why the CPEC has largely become PR campaign lately. Why is Gawdar not completed and that is entirely on the Chinese failure to meet commitments.
The CPEC should trade in good faith and results or otherwise it should be transported elsewhere.
You're ignoring the massive amount of western FDI that went into China post cold war. It mirrors what happened in Japan and South Korea.
The only difference is the west got cold feet halfway through and tried putting the brakes on.
Ill just be casually optimistic on Afghanistan. They managed to win freedom and the Taliban seem to be better than the warlords and Americans in terms of morals, which is an incredibly low bar as the latter more or less institutionalized child rape along with just being more brutal in religious punishments than even the Taliban.
But the nation is way too damaged and unstable for China to talk economics or even to talk military aid. What China can do is share its wealth in foodstuffs and necessities to make sure no large scale tragedy unfolds in Afghanistan (which is what they have done so far, afaik).
Hopefully the Taliban will remember it for the future when they've established a stable-ish government. Sometimes the best gesture is the humane one, instead of just jumping on them like a vulture hoping to get exclusive military or economy pacts. Even if Taliban doesn't remember it, China would have done right thing.
But the nation is way too damaged and unstable for China to talk economics or even to talk military aid. What China can do is share its wealth in foodstuffs and necessities to make sure no large scale tragedy unfolds in Afghanistan (which is what they have done so far, afaik).
Hopefully the Taliban will remember it for the future when they've established a stable-ish government. Sometimes the best gesture is the humane one, instead of just jumping on them like a vulture hoping to get exclusive military or economy pacts. Even if Taliban doesn't remember it, China would have done right thing.
You're advocating giving aid to Afghanistan but not doing economics? Why not both? Of course it's not safe to send Chinese workers into the country. But buying things that Afghanistan wants to sell shouldn't be too difficult. Mining isn't that difficult. Coal is becoming one of Afghanistan's most important exports and is pretty easy to dig out of the earth. The volumes are tiny from China's point of view so it doesn't even matter much if it's economical or not. So just buy whatever coal or iron ore and lithium etc. they can produce and sell them machines to get more. Maybe it will take some extra work to be able to deal with them. But rather than paying them aid, give the cash to a few translators in China who can help broker trade with the Afghan people. Maybe there's even a possibility of importing via Pakistan into China, making CPEC a little more useful?
Give the people jobs and they'll be grateful. Give them rice and they'll feel entitled
Afaik they're ready to buy whenever Afghanistan has stuff. And of course selling to the west is not an option. But in accordance with international law, China is maintaining full trade with Afghanistan and they've also exempted Afghan goods from tariffs.
What I meant as unviable economic ties is stuff like sending Chinese experts, buying up land, building roads and buying mines.
The aid I was talking about happened more right after Taliban won and there was a threat of famine.
MwRYum
Major
You can't do economic beyond trade of the most basic form, as long as not even the locals know who actually runs the country.
And Afghanistan is...to put it bluntly, more of a geographical concept than an actual country, for much of the last 50 years it don't have a government that effectively administer all that within its territorial boundaries.
And Afghanistan is...to put it bluntly, more of a geographical concept than an actual country, for much of the last 50 years it don't have a government that effectively administer all that within its territorial boundaries.
Well, I hope this is the first of many deals. Afghanistan needs outside expertise to allow them to sell natural resources found on their land. China can provide money and expertise. Now, if they can just figure out the security situation, we will be all good here.
MwRYum
Major
That'd be a very, very big "if" you're talking about here...