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Opinion | Why Chinese pleasure over the US fiasco in Afghanistan will be short-lived
- When the Schadenfreude over this moment of US defeat wears off, China will see that neither America’s withdrawal nor the Taliban’s resurgence are in its best interest
- Although Chinese officials have been engaging the Taliban, the Islamist group makes for a strange partner
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The stunning pace at which Afghanistan’s government collapsed after the withdrawal of many US troops last month has shocked the international community and embarrassed the Biden administration.
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There have been recriminations from Republicans and Democrats, from adversaries and allies, over the US withdrawal and the chaotic scenes at Kabul airport.
China’s state media and netizens have largely lapped up this moment of American defeat. As Helen Raleigh wrote in the Federalist, “in the larger geopolitical context, the real biggest winner in Afghanistan is the Chinese Communist Party”.
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Most dramatically, the return of the Taliban severely undermines US President Joe Biden’s message that “America is back” and ready to stand up to authoritarianism around the world.
European allies, whose partnership Biden has prioritised in his foreign policy and China policy especially, are disappointed by the execution of the US withdrawal.
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