China wants the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, a regional bloc co-founded by Beijing, to play a larger role in Afghanistan, as western countries gradually reduce their military presence there.
“We will insist that regional powers call the shots in regional affairs, prevent turbulences from outside the region, and play a bigger role in the peaceful reconstruction of Afghanistan,” said Hu Jintao, president, in remarks carried by the People’s Daily, the Communist party’s mouthpiece, as the SCO’s latest summit kicked off in the Chinese capital yesterday.
China shares only a short border with Afghanistan, but fears the spread of Islamist extremism into other south and central Asian states that straddle its long western flank.