Zhou Bo

Inserted 2 years ago

“With the U.S. withdrawal, Beijing can offer what Kabul needs most: political impartiality and economic investment. Afghanistan in turn has what China most prizes: opportunities in infrastructure and industry building - areas in which China's capabilities are arguably unmatched - and access to $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits, including critical industrial metals such as lithium, iron, copper and cobalt. Though critics have raised the point that Chinese investment is not a strategic priority in a less secure Afghanistan, I believe otherwise. Chinese companies have a reputation for investing in less stable countries if it means they can reap the rewards. That doesn't always happen so smoothly, but China has patience.”

Nytimes

Senior fellow at the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University and former senior colonel in the People’s Liberation Army from 2003 to 2020