Chinese police can bring order to wild Afghanistan

• Source: Global Times
• [00:53 December 24 2009]
• Comments

By Jiang Sujing

There might be a middle course in the issue of whether or not the Chinese government should send its army to Afghanistan, as debated by Gao Zhikai and Li Daguang in the Global Times on December 7.

Of course, we shouldn't send the army there to support the US forces.

We do not need to deploy soldiers, tanks, planes or missiles. Rather, this is a job for the police.

Let's be clear. China should not send police to aid the war in Afghanistan, or to help to search Osama bin Laden in the remote mountains.

Instead, they should be sent to help the Afghan government to safeguard the construction projects aided or invested by the Chinese government.

Of course, the Chinese government should first of all get the permission from their Afghan counterparts.

The deteriorating situation and the warring factions in Afghanistan are actually gradually damaging China's interests.

A stable Afghanistan would contribute to the security of China's northwestern borders in the long term.

More importantly, some terrorists in Afghanistan are threatening and kidnapping overseas Chinese, aiming to damage and inflame the relationships between China and countries in South and Central Asia.

China should stay alert and be prepared for any unpredictable situation. War is definitely not the best resort to help Afghanistan achieve its stability. China should not support the US-led NATO forces.

Otherwise we will fall into the trap set by the same people who, by highlighting the threats that Al Qaeda might bring to China, wish the Chinese government would stand on the same side as the West.

For China, the consequences of siding with the US could range from being dragged into messy US a. airs in Central Asia, to falling into an abyss where China would be seen as standing against the whole of the Muslim world.

At the same time, China would become the scapegoat of the US.