Asia

Attacks on Russians, Pakistanis and Chinese are beginning of a new pattern

Published

15.12.2022 20:41

Over one year after the Taliban’s ascent to power in Afghanistan, the security situation has somehow been getting inferior and more attacks against foreign missions have occurred. The economic situation is dire too and there is continuing migration and internal displacement as well.

Since seizing power on August 15 2021, the Taliban have repeatedly claimed they have achieved full territorial control, established security and removed “islands of illegitimate power”.

However, while physical security has improved by some measures but a significant rise in attacks by the Islamic State (IS) also known as Daesh group, targeting Shia and other minorities is one of many reminders that Afghanistan is far from secure. IS also carried suicide attacks mimicking Taliban tactics to target high-profile Taliban members and supporters.

Taliban had once said that they will eliminate Daesh within a month and assured of a strong war against the group. But the situation is quite different at the moment. The Daesh, besides Afghan targets, also carried out deadly attacks against Russians, Pakistanis and Chinese.

Vicious nature of the ongoing conflict

Indeed, Afghanistan is in a transition period, and new non-state actors are emerging. IS is a cover umbrella at the moment, and there is not enough understanding or evidence of the new actors, which is complicating the already vicious nature of the ongoing conflicts in the war-hit country. Undoubtedly, attacks on Russians, Pakistanis and Chinese are the beginning of a new pattern.

Just one day before the attack on a Chinese hotel in downtown Kabul, China’s Ambassador to Afghanistan Wang Yu met with Taliban’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Stanekzai and called for improved security at the embassy in Kabul. Stanekzai said at the meeting the security of foreign diplomatic missions in Afghanistan is their priority.

The meeting was necessary if we take note of the patterns of the recent attacks on Russian and Pakistan embassies. Two Russian embassy staff was among at least six people killed in a suicide bombing in 5th September. Many more were wounded. The attack is the first on a foreign mission in Afghanistan since the Taliban swept to power last year.

The second bombing was against the Pakistani embassy in December 3 that claimed by the Daesh group. The Taliban claimed they have arrested a member of the militant Islamic State group behind the shooting that left one security guard critically injured.

The target was Head of Mission Ubaidur Rehman Nizamani, who remained unhurt in the attack, and Pakistan strongly condemned the attack, but added the embassy would continue to function normally and there were no plans to withdraw diplomats from Kabul.

After these two attacks, China was worried, knowing that Daesh has a history of complicated untraceable attacks and China could be the next target.

China urged citizens to leave Afghanistan

China advised its citizens in Afghanistan to leave the country “as soon as possible,” following a coordinated attack again carried out by Daesh militants on a Chinese-owned hotel in the heart of Kabul.

The evacuation order is aimed at a great setback for Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers who seek foreign investments to improve its fragile economy. China is among few embassies that remained open and active in Afghanistan since Taliban takeover of the country more than a year ago.

Daesh, a key rival of the Taliban, posted pictures of its two fighters who carried out Monday’s attack on Longan Hotel, which left three assailants dead. Emergency hospital said they received 21 casualties, where three of them died upon arrival. Five Chinese citizens were among those wounded in the attack.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin called the attack “egregious in nature” and said China was “deeply shocked.”

Wang called for a “thorough investigation” and urged the Taliban government “to take resolute and strong measures to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens, institutions and projects in Afghanistan.”

“In view of the current security situation in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs once again advised Chinese citizens and institutions in Afghanistan to evacuate from Afghanistan as soon as possible,” Wang said.

China’s interest in Afghanistan

The Taliban has to maintain security of the Chinese firms who have tentatively sought to pursue opportunities in exploiting Afghanistan’s vast, undeveloped resource deposits, especially the Mes Aynak mine that is believed to hold the world’s largest copper deposit.

In October, Taliban government spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid highlighted China as a key part of Afghanistan’s economic development. In return, China vowed to help improve Afghanistan’s economy and called on the United States to unfreeze Afghan assets held abroad and end sanctions on the Taliban government.

China also has economic and mining interests in Afghanistan. China apparently showed willingness to help Taliban in the most proper way in almost all areas, but Beijing wants Taliban commitments to prevent China’s Uyghur opponents from setting up operations in Afghanistan. However, before receiving any threat from the specific group, Daesh was the first to announce hostility with China. Though the Daesh attack did not cause much harm, it was significant as it marked the first major attack on Chinese interests in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. Taliban need to deal with the group as several hundreds have been killed in Daesh attacks since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan last year.

Afghanistan needs an anti-terror security belt

As we said that Afghanistan is in a transition period, and there are many non-state actors where the Taliban really don’t have enough knowledge about them, have made it difficult for the Taliban to follow the security dynamics in the context of changing the geopolitical environment of Asia on a daily basis. The Taliban are also so busy in other issues that they can’t just examine the threats, or cannot predict specific targets based on intelligence information. Afghanistan needs an anti-terror security belt to fight Daesh group.

Meanwhile, the US providing Taliban with $40 millions UN managed cash per months to counter terrorism. It is understandable that the US want to contain and control the Taliban; however, this could be backfiring sans a proper mechanism and analyzing of security threats.

Up Next

Terrorism in Pakistan has intensified

Don't Miss

Hotel popular with Chinese visitors attacked in Kabul

Mansoor Faizy

Asia

China launches patrols east of Taiwan after Japan and Philippines open maritime boundary talks

Published

3 days ago

01/06/2026

Harici.com.tr

Beijing said it had conducted law enforcement patrols in waters east of Taiwan in response to a decision by Japan and the Philippines to launch talks on maritime boundary delimitation.

According to a statement from the China Coast Guard, a flotilla led by the vessel Daishan carried out law enforcement patrols “in accordance with the law” on Monday.

China Coast Guard spokesperson Jiang Lue said the operation was “a necessary action” in response to Japan and the Philippines “unilaterally announcing the start of negotiations on maritime delimitation in waters east of China’s Taiwan Island.”

“Such an announcement seriously infringes upon China’s territorial sovereignty and its maritime rights and interests,” Jiang said.

“We urge Japan and the Philippines to immediately cease all illegal actions that violate China’s sovereignty and rights,” he added.

Jiang also said the coast guard would continue strengthening its control and management of the relevant waters and that China would take concrete measures to “resolutely safeguard territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.”

The United States and most of its allies, including Japan and the Philippines, do not recognize Taiwan as an independent state and acknowledge it as part of China. The United Nations has also adopted resolutions reflecting this position. However, Washington continues to provide arms to Taiwan as part of its broader efforts to counter China and encourages its allies to do the same.

Following a summit in Tokyo between Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the two countries said in a joint statement issued on Thursday that they had agreed to begin “formal negotiations” to delimit their exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and continental shelves.

Beijing condemned the planned talks as “completely illegal and invalid” and swiftly lodged formal diplomatic protests with both Tokyo and Manila.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Friday: “The so-called delimitation negotiations are entirely illegal, invalid and void. They will have no impact whatsoever on China’s claims or on China’s exercise of its legitimate rights in the area east of Taiwan Island.”

The latest escalation comes at a time when relations between Beijing and both Tokyo and Manila are already strained. Japan and the Philippines are treaty allies of the United States, while China remains engaged in separate territorial disputes with Japan in the East China Sea and with the Philippines in the South China Sea.

As US attention and resources have increasingly shifted toward the war involving Iran, and as the White House has made the Western Hemisphere a strategic priority, Japan and the Philippines have stepped up diplomatic engagement in the region commonly referred to as the Indo-Pacific.

That effort has included building closer security and defence ties with other countries, prompting Beijing to accuse them of encouraging bloc confrontation in the region.

Japan and the Philippines do not share a maritime boundary. However, their seabed claims could overlap because both countries seek to extend their legal continental shelves beyond 200 nautical miles, equivalent to 370 kilometres or 230 miles.

The overlapping area lies east of Taiwan, southwest of Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and north of the Philippines’ Batanes Islands.

Yang Xiao, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China’s highest-ranking state-affiliated think tank, said Taiwan’s EEZ and continental shelf are part of the area under discussion.

“These are China’s rights and are not something that the two sides can negotiate among themselves,” Yang said.

In an interview published on Sunday by Yuyuan Tantian, a social media account affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV, before the China Coast Guard announced the patrols, Yang said Beijing would take “historic and unprecedented” countermeasures against Tokyo and Manila.

“Since they are negotiating in a three-party overlapping zone, we can also take further steps to advance our jurisdiction in the waters east of Taiwan,” Yang said.

“If the other side insists on reckless and destructive actions, we will inevitably introduce new countermeasures.”

Yang described the waters east of Taiwan as a vital maritime area for the island’s economic activities.

“If these waters are divided between Japan and the Philippines, that would clearly harm the interests of the people living on Taiwan Island,” he added.

Asia

SoftBank overtakes Toyota to become Japan’s most valuable company

Published

3 days ago

01/06/2026

Harici.com.tr

As artificial intelligence reshapes industrial structures in Japan and South Korea, stock market rankings are being redrawn. SoftBank Group has overtaken Toyota Motor to become Japan’s most valuable listed company.

SoftBank shares have surged as the global artificial intelligence rally gathers momentum, lifting the technology conglomerate’s market capitalisation above that of Toyota for the first time in more than two decades.

The shift reflects a broader reordering of Japan’s equity market. Automakers, alongside banks, steelmakers, energy companies and other traditional heavy industries, are losing ground to chipmakers and companies linked to artificial intelligence.

SoftBank shares jumped 14% on Monday, reaching a new record high. The company’s market value climbed to 48 trillion yen, or $301 billion, making it the most valuable company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Toyota had long held the top position, with a market capitalisation of approximately 45 trillion yen. The last time SoftBank surpassed Toyota was in March 2000, at the peak of the dot-com bubble.

SoftBank’s rapid rise has been driven by strong earnings performance and its substantial investment in ChatGPT developer OpenAI.

The Japanese company reported net profit of 1.82 trillion yen, or $11.4 billion, for the first three months of 2026, 3.5 times higher than in the same period a year earlier. The group is also increasing its investment in OpenAI, completing a $10 billion investment in April and committing to invest an additional $20 billion later this year. Total investment is expected to reach roughly $65 billion.

According to The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI plans to file for an initial public offering and aims to list in the United States as early as September. Some media reports suggest the company could seek to raise $60 billion through the offering, potentially valuing it at more than $1 trillion. Such a transaction could become the largest initial public offering in history.

Investors expect the IPO to significantly boost SoftBank’s investment gains. Those expectations have helped drive the technology group’s share price higher. SoftBank shares have risen about 127% since early April.

The company is also planning to invest up to 14 trillion yen in the construction of data centres in France.

Asia

China and Serbia agree to expand cooperation in emerging sectors

Published

1 week ago

26/05/2026

Harici.com.tr

Chinese President Xi Jinping met Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Beijing, where the two leaders discussed bilateral ties and oversaw the signing of multiple cooperation agreements. Xi also awarded Vucic the Friendship Medal of the People’s Republic of China.

The meeting between Xi Jinping and Aleksandar Vucic began with an official welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

The two leaders then proceeded to formal talks. Xi said China and Serbia had achieved “positive results” since jointly launching the construction of a “China-Serbia community with a shared future in the new era” in 2024.

Xi said the partnership had not only benefited the two peoples but had also set an example for international relations.

The Chinese president described relations between China and Serbia as an “iron friendship” based on deep historical ties and mutual trust.

Calling on both sides to strengthen exchanges, deepen practical cooperation and continue supporting each other on issues concerning their core interests, Xi also said the two countries should align their development strategies and advance cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative. In this context, he pointed to transport, energy and infrastructure projects.

Xi also called for expanding cooperation in emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence, the digital economy, green energy and advanced manufacturing.

Aleksandar Vucic congratulated China on the start of implementation of its 15th Five-Year Plan. Vucic also expressed confidence in China’s future development under Xi Jinping’s leadership.

The Serbian president said Belgrade attached great importance to relations with China and firmly supported Beijing on issues concerning China’s core interests.

Vucic thanked Chinese companies for their contributions to Serbia’s economic development and infrastructure construction.

Saying the two countries had made notable progress since establishing their comprehensive strategic partnership, Vucic added that cooperation had expanded across numerous sectors.

The Serbian president also praised China’s role in international affairs, saying Beijing approached smaller countries on the basis of equality and respect and defended international law.

Following the talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of more than 20 cooperation agreements covering politics, trade, science and technology, education, legal affairs and culture.

The two sides also issued joint statements on steadily advancing the construction of a China-Serbia community with a shared future in the new era and jointly supporting the implementation of four global initiatives.