Top China official visits Afghanistan, signs security deal
China has signed security and economic agreements with Afghanistan
during a rare trip to Kabul by a top Chinese official, in deals seen
aimed at bolstering Beijing's influence ahead of a NATO withdrawal of
most combat forces by 2014.
Zhou Yongkang, China's domestic
security chief and a member of the ruling Communist Party's central
Politburo, made an unannounced visit to the Afghan capital late on
Saturday, holding talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at his garden
palace.
Zhou's visit was the first
to Afghanistan by a senior Chinese leader since 1966 and followed a
visit by Karzai to Beijing in June when both countries agreed to
cooperate on combating extremism in the region.
During
the talks, held under tight security after violent protests in Kabul
over a film which insults Islam, Zhou signed agreements on increased
security and economic cooperation, including a deal to help "train, fund
and equip Afghan police".
The agreement was not specific on how much assistance China planned to give the 149,000-strong police force, which is currently trained by the NATO-led coalition.
"It
is in line with the fundamental interests of the two peoples for China
and Afghanistan to strengthen a strategic and cooperative partnership
which is also conducive to regional peace, stability and development,"
Zhou said in a statement, according to China's official Xinhua news
agency.
Resource-hungry China,
which has a small border with Afghanistan in the country's mountainous
north-eastern corridor, is keen to invest in Afghan resource deposits
worth as much as $1 trillion, based on U.S. Pentagon estimates.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/23/us-afghanistan-china-idUSBRE88M02C20120923
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