Posted on 08/07/2020 12:24:17 PM PDT by libh8er
China is opening up another front in its relentless drive to expand its territorial claims. The latest target of the Communist Party’s seemingly insatiable expansionist agenda is the central Asian republic of Tajikistan.
More than 90 per cent of the territory of this Muslim majority country is mountainous.
Recent articles in the state-controlled Chinese media, which don’t publish anything without the prior approval of the Communist Party, have called for Tajikistan’s Pamir mountain range, which runs along the Tajik border with Afghanistan and China, to be ceded to China.
According to a report in the Times of India, these include an article by a Chinese nationalist historian who cited official sources to make the audacious claim that the entire Pamir region rightfully belonged to China and needed to be returned.
This despite the fact that the two countries signed a border agreement in 2011. Clearly, the Xi Jinping regime is now emboldened enough to pay scant respect to both formal agreements as in the case of Tajikistan and informal understandings like it has with India regarding the Line of Actual Control.
China and central Asia Part of the erstwhile Soviet Union, Tajikistan became independent in 1991 but the very next year it saw a civil war that lasted five years. Since then the country has been ruled with an iron grip by the dictatorial president Emomali Rahmon.
Because of its Soviet past, Tajikistan had remained in the Russian sphere of influence, but in the last two decades, there’s another giant, China, to reckon with which has much deeper pockets than Russia. China, which shares borders with more than a dozen countries, including Tajikistan, has ramped up investments in Central Asia.
In 2011, the parliament of Tajikistan ratified an earlier agreement to hand over 1,000 sq km of land in the Pamir mountains to China in return for debt forgiveness.
At that point, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson said the dispute had been solved "according to universally recognised norms of international law through equal consultations".
Just how much debt China decided to forego is not clear, but land for debt has been an integral part of China’s expansionist tactics in many parts of the world, some of them thousands of miles from China’s borders.
Five years after that land-for-debt swap, Tajikistan, which continues to be heavily debt-ridden, allowed China to open a military base.
The Tajik government, however, is quite sensitive about the Pamirs, where some local communities tend to be restive. Last month, following the publication of the article by the Chinese historian, the Tajik foreign ministry called China’s ambassador to complain.
China has followed a policy of carrots and sticks with its other central Asian neighbours -- Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan – as well. But under Xi Jinping, Beijing’s ‘wolf warrior’ diplomacy has acquired a menacing edge.
From India and Japan to Taiwan and countries in Southeast Asia, China is not adding to its friends’ list with its bullying tactics and bellicose behaviour. Tajikistan may be too weak to stand up to China, but a loose alliance of counties fed up with Beijing’s actions can start pushing the dragon back.
Purely by coincidence the Pamir region happens to be rich in gold.
God, this is a tough one.
We KNOW wherever China settles in they use muslim disinfectant and muzzies are gone.
But then you have to deal with Chicoms in their place with more territory. Like a real life game of Risk with the world itself the prize.
I doubt the early betting lines on this look very good for Tajikistan.
Ping
The CCP has never been in a real war.
They keep hacking off too many nations, and they have no real allies. Goodness knows what army or navy they plan on using that wont be bogged-down if they actually do anything other than threaten every nation around them.
And Muslims seem unable to mine it and insist on being too far in debt.
Hold on now. I read this book.
It was called “The Bear and the Dragon” by Tom Clancy.
It was one of Clancy’s last books. The plot revolves around the invasion of Siberia by China after there was a discovery of oil and gold or diamonds. In it Russia joins NATO and together the Russians, British, US and other NATO countries, we kick some Kung Fu butt.
I suppose the locals could go Total Jihad on them and turn it into a Soviet-Afghan sort of thing.
I know a guy who has some family in Kyrgyzstan. He’s ethnically Russian and a lot of Russians who were sent there during Soviet times ended up staying. Sounds like a fascinating place as he describes it.
China might force the Tajiks back into the arms of Moscow.
Next thing you know, some neo-con is going to be calling for US troops in Whateveristan because freedom or something.
When I lived on Guam I knew some people that wanted the US out of Guam so Guam could be an independent nation. I asked them, If the US were to abandon Guam, how many weeks do do think it would be before a Chinese destroyer showed up with a sign that said, “Welcome to China?”
Typical liberals, they didn’t think that would ever happen.
I knew an ethnic Korean Kyrgyzstan but spoke Russian. in the Soviet era they were not allowed to speak Korean in public.
Not my circus.
Not my monkeys.
Bring back the Soviet Union!
(Semi kidding)
Fascinating is one way to describe it.
Central Asia has some places that are downright wild wild west like.
While in my oilfield working days we had a rule to avoid any place that ended in ‘stan.
I’d actually enjoy seeing the chicoms get their collective heads handed to them on a pike by invading some place like Afghanistan. It has not been called the Graveyard of Empires for no good reason but they may be worn down by now. First the Brits, then the Soviets and now us in the last 200 years or so.
I think the ‘Stans allied together might give the chicoms a good run for their money. Throw in the Indians and a few others for good measure.
Their money is not going to run out. It is a relative thing and for places like Africa they are the rich kids on the block. For the corrupt ‘stans they have enough.
Interesting, gold mining has taken place in the tributaries of the Yangtze and other rivers for a long time. I don’t know of any big placer operations in the mountains of the ‘stans or the Tibetan Plateau. I have to admit considerable ignorance of the area’s geology as well as culture and other resources. Interesting corner of the world though.
One of the interesting things about all of that region of the world are all the various endorheic basins.
You nailed it, no allies except for maybe North Korea. Every nation is just about done with china.
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