CCP Accepts Afghan Taliban Envoy’s Diplomatic Credentials, Officially Recognizing Regime

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, political chief of Afghanistan's Taliban, in Tianjin, China, on July 28, 2021. Li Ran/Xinhua via Reuters

Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping accepted the diplomatic credentials of the Afghan Taliban regime’s ambassador on Jan. 30 in Beijing, officially recognizing the Taliban’s rule. It marks the first diplomatic recognition of the Taliban regime as a legitimate government.

Xi accepted the diplomatic credentials submitted by the newly appointed ambassadors of 42 countries to Beijing at the Great Hall of the People, including Bilal Karimi, the Taliban-appointed Afghan ambassador, the CCP’s official CCTV TV network reported on Jan. 30.

The move followed the CCP’s decision to send its newly appointed ambassador to Afghanistan, who submitted diplomatic credentials to the Taliban regime in September 2023.

CCP Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, when asked to state clearly whether this amounts to Beijing officially recognizing the Taliban’s rule, said: “You asked whether China officially recognizes the Afghan interim government. I would like to say that China believes that Afghanistan should not be excluded from the international community.”

The Taliban is designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations. The United States and European countries have imposed economic and political sanctions on Taliban leaders and entities, accusing them of serious human rights violations.

Since the Taliban regained power in August 2021, several countries have maintained diplomatic missions in Afghanistan, although no country has sent a new ambassador. Following the expiration of the current ambassadors’ terms, these countries have appointed chargé d'affaires instead, without submitting new diplomatic credentials.

Axis of Evil

The regime in Beijing has refused to condemn the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack on Israel that killed an estimated 1,200 people, mostly civilians. The CCP also supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while refusing to call the war an “invasion.”

“Why does the CCP support Hamas while showing favor to the Taliban and not shying away from its close relationship with the terrorist organization?” asked columnist Yuan Bin, writing in The Epoch Times.

Afghanistan's acting first deputy prime minister, Abdul Ghani Baradar (L), and China's ambassador to Kabul, Wang Yu, announce an oil extraction contract with a Chinese company, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Jan. 5, 2023. Ahmad Sahel Arman/AFP via Getty Images

“Quite simple, because it is the largest terrorist organization in the world,” he added. “The CCP has always played the role of being an enemy of the civilized world, serving as the base camp for terrorist organizations and evil forces in the world.

“From the Khmer Rouge, to North Korea and Afghanistan, to ISIS, to Russia’s Putin, it has acted either openly or covertly to provide them with diplomatic support and monetary assistance.”

During a hearing conducted by the U.S. House Select Committee on the CCP on Jan. 30, committee Chair Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) warned, “As we watch China undertake the largest military buildup since at least World War II and it finds eager friends in Tehran, Moscow, and Pyongyang, we should reflect on the lessons of history.”

Former U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told the hearing, “We live in a dangerous world in which tyrants and autocrats and terrorists are challenging and attacking democracies, and so they’re threatening our values, are threatening our interests and our national security.”