“How is China going to buffer the old skool Islam of the talleybunnies?.”
They don’t care.
“ They don’t care.”
Yes. That’s the point. No nation building bs from the Chicoms. They need roads and rail to exploit the natural resources, so they don’t care who is nominally in charge, just like they’re doing in Africa. The locals can kill each other, just as long as they don’t bother the Chicom projects.