Roman Kot
While the United States, against the background of the escalation of its relations with Iran, is dwelling on how to get rid of the consequences of another protracted conflict in Afghanistan by withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan, China more and more bluntly demonstrates willingness to fill in this “vacuum”.
On the 20th June, 2019, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC issued a statement on the Taliban delegation's visit to Beijing. At the meeting, Chinese experts discussed establishing a peace process in Afghanistan and combating terrorism.
It would seem that the level of such a meeting cannot be considered the highest since it was a working visit. China's long-standing ties with the Taliban, mainly through the intermediary of Pakistani secret services, have almost never been surprising since the creation of the Taliban. Nevertheless, until recently, the leadership of the PRC publicly supported relations only with the internationally recognized Afghanistan's government and did not advertise its support for the Taliban. In this regard, a public demonstration of supporting Taliban may mean that the PRC is trying to revitalize its activity with regard to Afghanistan.
