China slams ‘hasty’ withdrawal of US troops from Afghan; urges UN to play ‘due role’

China slams ‘hasty’ withdrawal of US troops from Afghan; urges UN to play ‘due role’

Beijing: China has said the “hasty” withdrawal of the US troops from war-torn Afghanistan has severely affected the peace process and the regional stability as it called on the UN to play its “due role” and urged the SCO to pay more attention to the situation.
The issue of US withdrawal from Afghanistan figured in the telephonic conversation between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Pakistan counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Saturday.
Wang said that the “hasty withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan”, which is expected to be completed by September this year, has severely impacted the Afghan domestic peace process and negatively affected the regional stability.
Under such circumstances, China expects the United Nations to play its “due role”, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Wang as saying.
He, however, did not elaborate the UN’s “due role”.
Wang also said that the eight-member Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), of which India and Pakistan are members, should pay more attention to the situation and Afghanistan’s neighbours to strengthen communication, speak in one voice and take coordinated actions.
China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan are the SCO members.
Observers say that the US’ plan to speed up its troop withdrawal from Afghanistan may have troubling consequences for China.
China, whose volatile Xinjiang province borders Afghanistan, has been expressing its concern over the US move despite tensions with Washington on a host of issues, including America’s allegation of a genocide against Muslim Uygurs by the Chinese government in Xinjiang. It denies the allegations of running mass detention camps and violating human rights of Uygurs.
—PTI

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.