America is also leaving behind a power vacuum that China is looking to fill but either Beijing is confused about its approach or it's playing both sides last month china held talks with the Taliban recognizing it as a legitimate political force. This month it is conducting military exercises recognizing the Taliban as a security threat as I speak Chinese and Russian troops are carrying out anti-terror drills in northern China with an eye on the Taliban and the potential threat that it poses to stability in Xinjiang this begs the question what exactly is china's game plan for Afghanistan does it consider the Taliban a friend or a foe.
Our next report tells you how Beijing is keeping all its options open the 28th of July Tianjin China rolled out the red carpet for the Taliban the Chinese foreign minister held a high profile meeting with a delegation of nine Taliban representatives the meeting was unprecedented in terms of its publicity the seniority of Chinese attendees and the political messages conveyed the biggest one being the recognition of Taliban as a legitimate political force in Afghanistan barely two weeks later china and Russia are conducting military drills with an eye on the Taliban these visuals are from the shifting Xia city in northeast china more than 10000 troops from both countries are taking part in a 5-day military exercise a drill where Russian troops are using Chinese weapons for the first time in history what's more interesting is that the Chinese troops involved are from the western threat command which operates primarily in Xinjiang. So what exactly is china up to it helps to look at the details of this drill according to officials from both sides the focus of the exercise is largely counter-terrorism and security this involves the establishment of a joint command center a joint reconnaissance and warning system deep-sky air landing on strategic targets drone swarming sabotage operations electronic and information attacks and joint military strikes these are all operations that America once conducted in Afghanistan with NATO forces china itself says these are new concepts and new operations the action style of the drill reflects its new concepts and new operation methods which include saturation attack deep-sky air landing on strategic positions drone swarming sabotage operations and other military strategies to explore and practice the joint operation methods of instant concentration of fire and forces interactions between multiple domains and rapid victory. So why does china need these new concepts to prepare for the repercussions of the afghan unrest there are fears that the conflict could spill into central Asia Xinjiang and beyond the Taliban has assured China that it won't support militancy on its soil but can china trust the terror group the Taliban has a history of going to extremes on religious matters and breaking promises so china's actions seem to be driven by necessity rather than preference as it is the Chinese are already under attack by Taliban offshoots elsewhere in Pakistan there have been three attacks on Chinese nationals in the last four months this includes the April bombing of a hotel in Quetta where the Chinese ambassador was staying a bus explosion in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where nine Chinese engineers were killed and a shooting in Karachi on a car carrying Chinese workers which happened on the same day the Taliban delegation was in china the Pakistani Taliban was behind all three attacks what's the gaurante the same won't happen in Afghanistan so china is keeping all options open on one side it is carrying favor with the Taliban on the other it's holding anti-terror drills with Russia.
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