China, in Strategy to Fight Separatists, Cultivates Taliban

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Thursday, September 13, 2001 | CHARLES HUTZLER

[TroutStalker]

BEIJING -- While other major powers largely shun Afghanistan's Taliban, China is quietly building ties to the hard-line Islamic group, hoping to cut off a source of support for militant Muslim separatists in China's western regions.

Over the past year, China has quietly broadened both political and economic ties with the Taliban, which harbors Osama bin Laden, the militant Arab leader some suspect is behind the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. China has periodically dispatched diplomats to the Afghan capital, Kabul, and stepped up meetings with Taliban representatives in Pakistan. The two governments have agreed to exchange reports from their official news agencies. At least one Chinese company is building a phone network in Kabul, and Chinese experts are advising the government on rebuilding a dam and other parts of its devastated infrastructure, according to Asian and Western diplomats and Chinese security analysts.