Foreign and Military Affairs

Economy key agenda during Karzai visit

By Ai Yang
Updated: 2010-03-22 07:56

Beijing - Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai's upcoming visit to China has drawn wide attention at a time when major powers are speculating whether China would engage deeper in efforts to rebuild - and possibly offer military assistance - the war-torn country.

Karzai will arrive in Beijing Tuesday on a three-day state visit and hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and Wu Bangguo, the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

A large contingent of Afghan businessmen is also expected to accompany the visiting president.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai (right) shakes hands with a military officer during a graduation ceremony at the National Military Academy in Kabul last week. Karzai said the nation is counting on this generation of officers to stabilize the country. [Musadeq Sadeq / Associated Press]

Karzai is expected to present the Chinese leadership with his plan for reconciliation with the Taliban, but financial issues are likely to top the agenda, AFP reported.

"Most of what will be discussed with the Chinese government will be economic issues," Karzai's spokesman Waheed Omar told reporters in the Afghan capital Kabul last week. Since early 2008, Afghan officials, as well as the NATO troops, have repeatedly asked China to open up the border on the east end of the Vakhan corridor to help them fight terrorists in the country. China has rejected the appeal, refusing to be sucked into a war on terror.

China has, however, provided notable financial aid to its neighbor. Since 2002, it has given $175 million in aid, which has helped in various reconstruction projects in the country. China also granted a further $75 million recently.

This unconditional assistance has helped in the construction of schools, hospitals, roads and waterworks.

Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said earlier this month that military means would not offer a fundamental solution to the Afghan issue.

Beijing's investments in Afghanistan help stability as they create employment opportunities and are therefore in step with the Afghan government's wish to offer a future to those Taliban fighters who wish to lay down their weapons, news agency AFP quoted Chinese observers as saying.

Andrew Small of the German Marshall Fund, a US research center, said China's influence is potentially significant both economically and politically, where its close ties with Pakistan's military could be leveraged.

"As Afghanistan's neighbor, China is very concerned about the country's future," Zhang Xiaodong, deputy chief of the Chinese Association for Middleeast Studies, told China Daily.

He said Beijing would continue aiding the country, but any new moves indicating military involvement was not likely on the cards. "China definitely will not participate in the country's internal affairs under the NATO framework," Zhang said.

In February, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen stressed how vital it was to reinforce ties with Asian nations such as China, India and Pakistan, saying they and Russia all have a stake in Afghan stability, the AFP reported.

Zhang, however, warned that unbalanced engagement with these stakeholders could lead to more problems, inducing dissatisfaction and alarm in other neighboring countries.

"Afghanistan should cut reliance on the US. At the moment, Washington is deeply involved, and it makes other neighbors nervous. Karzai now hopes to seek more support from other big countries and find a diplomatic balance," Zhang said.