Foreign and Military Affairs
NATO seeks Chinese rebuilding help for Kabul
By Cheng Guangjin and Cai Xiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-25 07:04
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BEIJING - The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is actively courting China to partner it in civilian outreach and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, a senior NATO official has said.
"I do not consider China as a threat; I think we should develop a partnership with China with the aim to solve problems like the one in AfghanistanThe first step could be to organize a political dialogue on a regular basis," Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO's Secretary-General, said in an interview to Phoenix TV.
The interview came just ahead of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's ongoing trip to Beijing to strengthen bilateral relations and economic cooperation. The NATO chief said he would follow Karzai's visit carefully.
"I think China could play a key role in civilian development in Afghanistan," said Rasmussen, pointing out that a military solution alone would not solve the Afghanistan issue.
"If we are to ensure long-term peace and stability, we must step up our endeavors within civilian development and reconstruction," he said.
China, as Afghanistan's neighbor and friend, was willing to support it in reconstruction efforts, and will take an active role in that, foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said during a regular press briefing Tuesday. But, cooperation with NATO, which China has not engaged in any form so far, was unlikely, analysts said.
NATO did not seek China's opinion when it deployed its forces in Afghanistan in the first place. Now, it needs China's support in dealing with the aftermath (of military intervention), but China would not respond to its call, a People's Liberation Army (PLA) officer and researcher at a top military think tank, who refused to be quoted by name, said.
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"China has common interests with NATO in counter terrorism, but it also has its independent policies," said Tao Wenzhao, an expert on US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "China might cooperate with individual NATO members, but not necessarily with this alliance as a whole."
It is not the first time that NATO has sent signals seeking increased cooperation from China and other countries to counter terrorism in Afghanistan, which, Rasmussen stressed, was the NATO's "main military operation". In February this year, at a key security summit in Munich, Rasmussen said the alliance's troubled mission in Afghanistan showed that it was vital to boost ties with its neighbors, such as China, Pakistan and India.
"India has a stake in Afghan stability; China too. And, both could help further develop and rebuild Afghanistan. The same goes for Russia. Basically, Russia shares our security concerns," Rasmussen said.
NATO has set an ambitious target to increase the size of the Afghan security forces by nearly 50 percent to 305,000 by October 2011, to create a force big and capable enough to start looking after the country's security.
The United States is deploying 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan this year in an effort to turn the tide against a growing Taliban insurgency. Washington plans to start withdrawing by mid-2011.
