Does China care what happens in Afghanistan?

One more recent summit that passed under the radar of most people without Olympian boredom thresholds was last month’s Beijing meeting of Heads of Government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Come again? Well, it’s a strategic cooperation arrangement between China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, focussing on Central Asia. OK, you can go back to sleep now.

But one event might make you perk up a bit: the Summiteers received an exploratory letter from an entity calling itself the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban to you, me and HM Armed Forces). They were, of course, seeking support from their Asian brothers in driving the imperialists from the region, amid heart-rending expositions of their suffering. “Our parent (sic) are not able to send their children to schools with a peace of mind, fearing they might be killed”. This clearly refers only to male children: parents of female children daren’t send their children to school because they might be killed by the Taliban. Farmers and traders are not able to go about their normal business because the Brits and Yanks might kill them. No Afghan farmer or trader ever got killed by the Tallies, after all. Anyway, they wrote to the leaders of the SCO asking for support. Any chance that they’ll get it?

Well, given that the Uzbeks are inclined to boil Taliban types alive, I imagine they’ll have one adverse vote. But what about the Chinese? They have maintained a studied neutrality in that part of the world. But do they have a dog in the fight? What stake do they have in Afghanistan, apart from the fact that it is a neighbour state thanks to about fourteen miles of border?

Quite a big one, actually. A recent Economist report pointed out that at Aynak, just south of Kabul, there is a huge copper mine, one of the biggest sources of copper in the world, and two years ago the Chinese invested more than $3 billion in it. After all, the SCO is really all about natural resources – if they don’t cooperate, the water wars of the later 21st century will be something to behold. And the Chinese know damn well that the Americans are a better bet to keep their investment safe than the Taliban. So I assume the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan got a dusty answer, if it got one at all.

But it’s amazing what the Chinese get away with in terms of poncing, mooching and bludging. The Afghan police force guarding the mine is funded by the Japanese. Security in the wider area is provided by the US Army. The Chinese don’t pay a single yuan, and retain the right to get all sniffy about “Western imperialism” in public. Still, at least they’re clear about which side their bread is ultimately buttered on.