China jumps to act as a peacemaker between Pakistan & Afghanistan to safeguard its interests in Af-Pak region
China has jumped to act as a peacemaker between Pakistan and > Afghanistan to safeguard its interests in the Af-Pak region and adjoining Central Asia amid India's growing engagement with Taliban and focus on Chabahar Port.Wednesday's meeting in Beijing between three sides was also necessitated by deteriorating ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan. China, therefore, moved swiftly to organise a meeting between Islamabad and Kabul, explained persons familiar with the matter.
At the informal meeting, moderated by China's foreign minister Wang Yi, both Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed "in principle" to send ambassadors to each other's country as soon as possible. They also expressed their willingness to upgrade the level of diplomatic ties, a statement by China's foreign ministry has said.However, Beijing's efforts may not yield desired success given Taliban's interest to expand ties with India across spheres.
'China's efforts to cobble up relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan is in step with its recent initiatives including Global Security Initiative and Good neighbourliness policies. However, like its deal bringing Saudi Arabia and Iran, the current round includes balancing regional powers like Israel and India and enhance Beijing's hold over these countries,' according to Prof Srikanth Kondapalli, an expert on China from JNU.
'Saudi-Iran deal did not result in any spectacular developments in the Middle East. Likewise, bringing Afghanistan and Pakistan together is unlikely to resolve the structural problems in South Asia. Till China desists from supporting terrorism, its efforts to bring together these two nations will not yield positive results,' Kondapalli told ET.China, Pakistan and Afghanistan on Wednesday agreed to expand the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan during an informal trilateral meeting in Beijing. This has been driven by India's connectivity initiatives – Chabahar Port and INSTC and its impact on CPEC that is now increasingly being observed as an asset acquisition initiative instead of delivering global goods.
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