China to set up military base of 500 troops in Afghanistan
Islamabad: China is to build a military base in Afghanistan. According to reports, hundreds of troops will cross the border from its western Xinjiang region to carry out counter-terrorism training.
The base will be the second overseas site for the increasingly active Chinese military. A year ago, a base opened in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa.
About 500 troops will train their Afghan counterparts in the Wakhan Corridor in the north-east province of Badakhshan, the South China Morning Post reported. Despite denials by the Chinese government, the report said work had already begun at the site.
China has long worried that instability in Afghanistan could spill into Xinjiang and damage its economic plans for a 21st century Silk Road in the region. Beijing has been accused of conducting a severe security crackdown on the Xinjiang's Muslim Uighur minority, but says it is tackling Islamist violence.
It is particularly worried about separatist militants from Xinjiang's Uighurs, fighting and training there. Afghanistan is also home to Islamic State fighters who in the past have vowed that "blood will flow in rivers" in China.
A source told the newspaper: "China will send at least one battalion, along with weapons and equipment, to be stationed there and provide training to their Afghan counterparts."
A Russian news agency reported earlier this year that Beijing would finance a new base in Badakhshan after the two countries agreed to cooperate in the fight against terrorism.
Song Zhongping, a military analyst in Hong Kong, said: "Afghanistan is very weak on counterterrorism, and the authorities there are worried about a Taliban resurgence, but they can't do anything about it without help from the US, China and other countries."
A report paper last month from the European Council of Foreign Relations said China feared attacks by groups such as IS on its economic projects in Pakistan and central Asia.
China is expected to strengthen its military presence in the region by setting up a naval logistics hub in the new Pakistani port of Gwadar.
The port is being built with large amounts of Chinese investment and is a cornerstone of its regional plans.
It will give Beijing access to the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.
China will control the port until 2059, when it will be transformed into Pakistan's second naval base.
Telegraph, London