Late last month, the Taliban’s ambassador to China, Bilal Karimi, presented his credentials to Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, making China the first country to accept a Taliban ambassador.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters that welcoming a new ambassador is a normal diplomatic arrangement for China. He said that China believes that Afghanistan should not be excluded from the international community. …. We believe that diplomatic recognition of the Afghan government will come naturally as the concerns of various parties are effectively addressed.

Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital that he sees the relationship between China and the Taliban as “strictly transactional.” He said the group is at a standstill because the Taliban cannot support China’s ongoing persecution of the Muslim Uyghur population and the Taliban host Uyghur militants from the al-Qaeda-linked Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP). Assurance China said that TIP will not be allowed to operate inside Afghanistan.

Afghan diplomat refuses to resign, ends Taliban rule, calls on West to ‘mobilize’ against abuses

Taliban spokesmen, the Chinese embassy and the Chinese foreign ministry did not respond to questions from Fox News Digital about the state of the countries’ relationship or the Taliban’s numerous restrictions on Afghan women.

Jason Hook, director of Global Friends of Afghanistan, told Fox News Digital that China’s actions are a form of “soft recognition” being used by many countries to “legitimize the Taliban and Haqqani terrorist regime . . . . without fully recognizing the terrorists as a legitimate government.”

“Women and girls in Afghanistan are in the worst position when it comes to … legitimizing terrorists,” Hawick says. Without condemnation from outside actors, the Taliban and the Haqqani network are able to “use unlimited violence to eliminate all opposition to their government’s policies,” leaving women to “relieve their suffering in open prisons.” There is no way out.”

China moves into Afghanistan as ties with Taliban grow: ‘We welcome Chinese investment’

In response to press questions about the diplomatic development, a State Department spokesperson said: Matthew Miller said He would “let the Chinese government talk about their relationship and whether they have formally recognized the Taliban,” he said, adding that the U.S. had informed Taliban leaders that “we want to see them act differently.” want,” specifically to the Taliban in this regard Violations of human rights Against Afghan women and girls

Increasing trade ties between Kabul and Beijing have fueled fears of China’s recognition of the Taliban. In the past year, Afghanistan has attracted several hundred million and multibillion-dollar investments from Chinese companies interested in its copper, cobalt, gold, iron ore and lithium deposits, which are worth about $1 trillion. There is a dollar. China also agreed to extend the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, part of its controversial Belt and Road Initiative, to Afghanistan in May 2023.

Some business plans are already underway. After signing a $540 million deal with Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Co. in January 2023, China’s Sinopec increased Afghanistan’s crude oil production by 300 percent through December. A Taliban spokesman for mines and petroleum told Bloomberg that China has drilled about 10 wells in Afghanistan and produced about 5,000 barrels of oil per day.

The United Nations added the Afghan crisis to the agenda after the Taliban banned women, girls from school, public places, and jobs.

Other projects have suffered. Chinese investors who bought the contract to mine Afghanistan’s Mes Aynak copper deposit more than a decade ago have not started work. The copper mine lies among the ruins of a 1,000 to 2,000-year-old city. Although open pit mining of Mace Aynak is a more economical option to exploit its resources, doing so would disturb the archaeological remains of the area.

Another possible future contact between China and the Taliban could cause trouble for the Taliban’s enemies. Reuters reported in September 2023 that the Taliban wanted to build a “massive camera surveillance network” in Afghan cities, with Chinese company Huawei providing a “verbal agreement” to support an installment agreement.

Huawei products are banned in the US and many western countries. The Washington Post found that Huawei’s facial recognition technology has been used to track China’s Uyghur population. The Taliban “will use such technology to further their interests with China, including spying on Uyghur refugee issues in Afghanistan,” Roggio says. According to The China Project, the technology also threatens the population of 3,000 Uighurs who fled to Afghanistan to escape persecution in China.

For Afghans who are already scared. Biometric technology The proposed surveillance network, which Taliban members are said to be using at some of their outposts, is likely to raise new concerns.

Whether or not China officially recognizes the Taliban, its growing relationship with Afghanistan’s ruling party is a “bitter pill to swallow” for former Afghan government MP Maryam Sulaiman Khel. Sulaiman Khel told Fox News Digital that she feels the Chinese are “(telling Afghan women that) our struggles and demands for freedom are less valuable than political and economic gains. The message is loud and clear: Afghan women’s rights.” are ready to sell, and the Chinese are all ready to make a deal.”