Geo-Strategic Trend - 43. page

With the departure of the U.S. invaders, the Afghan people did not live the life they expected, and were still struggling under the poverty line. The Taliban government in Afghanistan has been in power for more than a year. The results have proved that it is basically impossible to rely solely on the power of Taliban to save the Afghan economy. Looking at the whole world, it can be said that there are very few countries that are able and willing to provide assistance to Afghanistan in terms of economic construction. Atta can only focus on the big eastern countries.

China Central Asia Petroleum and Natural Gas Co., Ltd. signed a 25-year oil exploration contract with the Afghan Taliban government. According to the contract, the Chinese company and the Afghan government will jointly explore oil in the Amu Darya Basin in northern Afghanistan, where the oil reserves are estimated to exceed 80 million barrels. Chinese companies have been approved to carry out mining operations in an area of 4,500 square kilometers across the three provinces of Sar Pul, Jowzjan, and Faryab. The daily oil production will be 1,000 tons in the initial stage, and will gradually increase to 20,000 tons later. It is reported that the Chinese company in charge of the cooperation project will invest a maximum of US$150 million per year in the first three years, and will increase to US$540 million per year after three years. If the 25-year contract period is successfully fulfilled, the cumulative investment of the Chinese side will exceed US$12 billion.

Source: qq.com, January 6, 2023

https://view.inews.qq.com/a/20230106A0633500?tbkt=G&uid=&refer=wx_hot

Primary Hong Kong news media Sing Tao News Group recently reported that, due to dissatisfaction with China’s reluctance to finance the project, the Ugandan government has terminated its contract with a Chinese company to build a railway in the local area. Uganda is seeking a Turkish company to take over. Ugandan officials in charge of coordinating the project confirmed the news. According to the contract, one of the conditions is that China is obliged to assist Uganda in obtaining financing for the project, but this has not happened. The Ugandan authorities sent a letter to China Harbor Engineering (HEC) to terminate the contract in December 2022. HEC has not raised any objections so far. This 273-kilometer railway connects Uganda’s capital, Kampala, and the border with Kenya. In order to connect with the international standard-gauge railway leading to Mombasa, Kenya’s Indian Ocean port, the new railway construction plan also adopts the international standard gauge. The entire project is estimated to cost US$2.2 billion. The Chinese spokesperson of the Foreign Affairs Ministry said China and Uganda have established a comprehensive cooperative partnership and that the pragmatic cooperation between the two countries is at the forefront of China-Africa cooperation.

Source: Sing Tao, January 14, 2023
https://bit.ly/3INEVpF

Since the Communist Party’s 20^th National Party Congress, Beijing has been adopting a “divide-and-conquer” strategy in its foreign policy with the Southeastern countries. It does not like multilateral relationships (China is likely to be against working with a group of countries), but prefers bilateralism (China has a bigger advantage in a one-on-one relationship) instead. Using its economic power. China has already captured Cambodia and Laos and is now working on Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

Take Vietnam as an example. Sino-Vietnam trade increased 10 percent in the first nine months of this year, from the same period a year ago. Imports from China counted for 70 percent of Vietnam’s total imports.

Beijing invited Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of Vietnam’s Communist Party, to visit China at the end of October. He was the first foreign dignitary to visit China after the  closing of the 20th Party National Congress. Both sides issued a joint statement, including a plan to accelerate cooperation between China’s “Belt & Road Initiative” and Vietnam’s “Two Corridors and One Circle” framework.

Later, Indonesian President Jokowi greeted Xi Jinping at a bilateral meeting following the G20 Indonesia Summit in Bali. Jokowi called Xi “elder brother.”

President Marcos of the Philippines visited Beijing in January and the two countries signed over ten agreements under the “Belt & Road Initiative” framework.

Source: China News, January 5, 2023
https://news.creaders.net/china/2023/01/05/2564180.html

United Daily News (UDN), one of the primary Taiwanese news groups, recently reported that Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Sweden is confident Turkey will allow Sweden to join the NATO military alliance, but Sweden will not be able to meet all of Turkey’s demands in exchange. Whether NATO expands in size needs to receive unanimous approval from all member states. Kristersson said that Turkey confirmed that Sweden did what Sweden promised, but Turkey also made clear that it wanted what Sweden couldn’t or didn’t want to do for it. Sweden, Finland and Turkey signed a tripartite agreement last year that is expected to end Turkey’s opposition to the two countries joining NATO. Sweden and Finland have long maintained close ties with Western militaries but have been reluctant to join military alliances for fear of angering Russia. However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February prompted a change in attitude in Sweden and Finland. Turkey had previously used the support for Finland and Sweden to join NATO as leverage, demanding that the two countries take a tougher stance against Kurdish militias that Turkey considers terrorists.

Source: UDN, January 8, 2023
https://udn.com/news/story/6809/6896295

Xi Jinping recently visited Saudi Arabia and attended the 2022 China-Arab States Summit hosted in Saudi’s capital city Riyadh. China signed a joint summit statement declaring its support for the United Arab Emirates “to reach a peaceful solution to the issue of the three islands; Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa” under international law. The UAE and the Iranese have been disputing these three islands in the Strait of Hormuz for decades, where Iran grabbed them after the British Royal Navy stopped patrolling them in 1971.

Iran expressed fury for the betrayal by China which had supported it for long time. Iran called in China’s Ambassador to express its grievance. In the meantime, many Iranian media have complained about China.

On December 10, the Arman Daily, an Iranian newspaper published an article titled, “Taiwan Independence: A Legal Right” on its front page. The article stated that Beijing would have to accept Taiwan’s independence despite attempts to suppress the country by force.

To calm down Tehran, on December 13, Beijing sent Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua (胡春華) to meet Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Xinhua News reported that Hu told Iranian officials that China “will not waver in its determination to develop their comprehensive strategic partnership” and that “China firmly supports Iran in opposing external interference and safeguarding its sovereignty, territorial integrity and national dignity.”

Source: Epoch Times, Dec 14, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/12/14/n13884833.htm