The People’s Liberation Army has set up a military base in the Wakhan Corridor, which borders Pakistan, Tajikistan and China, according to the South China Morning Post. The base apparently serves two functions according to the report, first to secure the borders in the region and to prevent further so-called terror activities of the Islamic Uighur population in China’s Xinjiang Province.

The war-torn Central Asian country has become increasingly important for China’s own security, as well as President Xi Jinping’s “Belt and Road Initiative”, a huge trade and infrastructure plan.

“Construction of the base has started, and China will send at least one battalion of troops, along with weapons and equipment, to be stationed there and provide training to their Afghan counterparts,” one of the sources said.

Operating in the area for at least a year and rumored to have kept a presence for longer, their presence is now made official by the establishment of a permanent post. The buildup is interesting considering the hosting of the Taliban by Russia this month. Both China and Russia have an interest in Afghanistan that goes beyond simple regional security. As I pointed out in the previous article, it’s likely lithium and opium production.

Li Wei, a counterterrorism specialist at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said that in addition to providing military support, Beijing had also increased economic cooperation with Afghanistan, which is rich in natural resources, with more than 1,400 mineral deposits.

“Defence and [economic] development have always been the basis for mutual benefit,” Li Wei said. “That’s because if both sides just focus on security cooperation, it won’t be a sustainable relationship.”….More Here