What strategy for China in Afghanistan?

Monday November 29 at 6:30pm at the Inalco auditorium, 65 rue des Grands Moulins, 75013 Paris and live on YouTube.

Registration required to participate in face-to-face or remote participation in the conference.

On July 28, as the Taliban charged into Kabul, China very officially welcomed a delegation from the Islamist movement to the city of Tianjin. A way for Beijing to prepare for the new era, that of an Afghanistan under Taliban control, free from any American presence.

China, like Russia, has kept its embassy open in Kabul and has since stepped up its contacts with the new government. It has pledged $30 million in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan and is calling on major international institutions to release funds from the Afghan central bank.

The stakes are above all economic and security-related, at a time when Beijing is promoting its gigantic "New Silk Roads" project in all directions. China, which shares 76 kilometers of border with Afghanistan, intends to rely on the Taliban to combat the development of cells of Uighur fighters who have taken refuge on Afghan soil.

This conference will attempt to define the "Chinese strategy" in Afghanistan and analyze whether the Taliban government can be a credible partner for Beijing. More broadly, it will address the central place occupied by Afghanistan in China's ambitions for Central Asia as a whole.

With:

• Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh, professor at the Institut d'études politiques (Sciences Po) in Paris and specialist in security issues in Central Asia and Afghanistan.
• Emmanuel Véron, geographer, specialist in contemporary China and research associate at the Naval Academy and Inalco.
• Mathieu Duchâtel, sinologist and director of the Asia program at Institut Montaigne.
  

Moderation:

• Baptiste Fallevoz, editor-in-chief at France 24, journalist at Asialyst and former correspondent in China.
  

Co-organizers: Inalco and Asialyst.com, the website for news and analysis across Asia
Contact: contact@asialyst.com