Beijing aims to incorporate Pakistan and Afghanistan deeper into its sphere of influence.
On December 16, Beijing hosted the first China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue. The three countries’ foreign ministers — China’s Wang Yi, Afghanistan’s Salahuddin Rabbani and Pakistan’s Khawaja Muhammad Asif — attended the meeting.
Beijing has repeatedly claimed that the 3,000 km CPEC — which starts in Kashgar and ends at Pakistan’s Gwadar port — will connect “the Silk Road Economic Belt in the north and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road in the south.
