BEIJING: Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said his country is “concerned” about the impact of recent Taliban administration policies on women’s rights, according to official media on Friday.
Qin’s remarks at a regional forum in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, come after the fundamentalist Taliban rulers’ decision to restrict women from working for the UN drew international uproar.
According to the official Xinhua news agency, Qin told reporters on Thursday that China and other friendly neighbors of Afghanistan are concerned about recent Afghan policies and measures and their potential impact on the basic rights and interests of women of Afghan. However, the foreign minister said that while women’s rights and interests are critical, “it is not the whole issue of Afghanistan, nor is it the core or root cause of Afghanistan’s problems.” He said we should neither ignore nor turn a blind eye to this problem.
Since assuming power in 2021, Taliban authorities have placed numerous restrictions on Afghan women, including barring them from many government professions and higher education. Taliban authorities have claimed that extending restrictions on female employment to encompass UN operations in the country, reported by a UN spokesperson on April 4, is an “internal issue.”
The Taliban leadership has failed to establish formal diplomatic connections with any other country since the withdrawal of troops of US troops in August 2021. China slammed what it perceived as a rushed and ill-planned evacuation of US military forces, declaring at the time that it was ready to start “friendly and cooperative” relations with the new government.
China’s foreign ministry issued a position paper on Afghanistan ahead of Qin’s journey to Central Asia this week, stating that it “respects the independent choices made by the Afghan people, as well as religious beliefs and national customs.” According to the policy document, China would never aim to “interfere in Afghanistan’s internal affairs” or “pursue so-called spheres of influence.”
