NEW ALLY? In this July 28, 2021 file photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, Taliban cofounder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar (left) and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pose for a photo during their meeting in Tianjin, China. AP PHOTO
NEW ALLY? In this July 28, 2021 file photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, Taliban cofounder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar (left) and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pose for a photo during their meeting in Tianjin, China. AP PHOTO


BEIJING:
In the US departure from Afghanistan, China has seen the realization of long-held hopes for a reduction of the influence of a geopolitical rival in what it considers its backyard.

Yet, it is also deeply concerned that the very withdrawal could bring risk and instability to that backyard - Central Asia - and possibly even spill over their narrow, remote border into China itself and the heavily Muslim northwestern region of Xinjiang.

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