KABUL: Beijing welcomes Afghanistan’s active participation in the Belt and Road Initiative, a global infrastructure plan proposed by China, and is willing to push for extending the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Thursday as he made a surprise visit to Kabul.
Wang met acting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to discuss political and economic ties, including starting work in the mining sector and Afghanistan’s possible role in China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, according to a statement from an Afghan foreign ministry spokesman.
China was willing to promote the extension of CPEC to Afghanistan, making the latter a bridge for regional connectivity, Wang said on Thursday .
He also said China hoped Afghanistan would fulfil its commitment of not allowing any external forces to use its territory as a tool to oppose neighbours, or harm the security of other nations.
Wang visited Kabul on Thursday, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s foreign ministry said, the highest-level visit by a Chinese official since the Taliban took power last year and a day after many in the global community were angered by the group’s closure of girls’ high schools.
China is among just a handful of countries, including Pakistan and Qatar, that has sent a minister to Afghanistan since the Taliban took over the country in August.