One of the major debates today in world politics is the increasing role which the United States is assigning to China in South Asia. After Obama’s visit to Beijing this was one point of contention in the flourishing Indo-US relations. Recently there have also been reports that suggest the United States is looking for a greater Chinese role Afghanistan. This comes in the backdrop of the US contemplating increasing the number of troops deployed to Afghanistan. From the very start of 2009 Obama has been patiently trying to convince Beijing to undertake a major role in Afghanistan and also to get more involved in the overall reconstruction process. The US government is pushing for increasing humanitarian support on one hand and deploying military police to in order to help train the Afghan police force. But this is a very recent development.

Since the beginning of the century China has not been seen as being very interested in developments in Afghanistan. It has been quite supportive of the Karzai government as China itself faces problems of Islamic movements on its western borders. This cordial approach has been reciprocated by the Karzai government as well. Karzai has always asserted that he wants to emulate “America’s democracy and China’s economic success”. Both sides have signed a number of agreements and they have also establishment a number of bilateral business councils and other similar institutions with the aim of establishing cordial bilateral ties. Though ties were cordial since the year 2001 when the Karzai government was established, Kabul was not an important focus for Beijing till about 2006.

The major shift in focus came about in the year 2007 when China  won the contract for exploiting Afghanistan’s Aynak copper deposit located about 30 miles south of Kabul. This is regarded as the second largest copper deposit in the world. The deepest was discovered in the year 1974, but remained unexplored due to the start of the Soviet War in 1979. This can also help Afghanistan become one of the highest copper producers in the world.  The right to mining this copper field also involves construction of communications links like roads and railways in addition to units to process the mined copper. With the passage of time China has invested a total of 4 billion dollars in this project.

This increasing Chinese interest towards Afghanistan was welcomed by the Afghan mining minister Muhammad Ibrahim Adel. He claimed that this huge investment in the country would generate almost 2 billion in the form of taxes and other benefits by the year 2013. But questions have been raised regarding the conditions under which the contract was given to Beijing.

Apparently, Beijing has also invested in other areas. Chinese companies like ZTE and Huawei, in collaboration with the Afghan Ministry of Communications, ventured to execute digital telephone switches. This project provided approximately 200,000 subscriber lines. Beijing was also involved in the Parwan irrigation project. This project restored water supply in Parwar province and also in the reconstruction of the public hospitals in Kabul and Kandahar.  The European Union has also hired Chinese firms for a number of construction projects in Afghanistan.

This renewed interest in Afghanistan is resource driven. Afghanistan has untapped resources which Beijing requires in order to sustain its ongoing level of economic development. With Washington asking China to help it with the ongoing war in Afghanistan, entry into this region has become quite easy for Beijing. But recent events in Xinjiang have made China cautious of its involvement in Afghanistan as this might make it a terrorist target. Afghans on the other hand, are comfortable more with Chinese presence in comparison to the American presence as Beijing does not tend to interfere in their internal matters.

No doubt this is a serious matter of concern for India. New Delhi has been trying to prevent the overlapping of Indian and Chinese spheres of influence in South Asia. Historically Indo-Afghan relations have quite warm. There have been cordial ties and there is mutual trust on both sides. But at present the most prominent player in this region is the United States. As the US is dependent on Pakistan’s support to continue its war in Afghanistan vis-à-vis India, it weakens the Indian reach. Secondly the 2009 Obama’s visit to Beijing and expecting more Chinese role in the region has further problematized the current situation. One needs to wait and see what the ultimate outcome of this overlapping influence will be.