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China

Will Xi play ball with Trump on Ukraine?

US president-elect Donald Trump has invited China’s president Xi Jinping to his inauguration on January 20 in a surprise move which appears to be part of a plan to involve Beijing in ceasefire negotiations in Ukraine.

Afghan Future

The primary interest of Russia and China in ousting the US from Afghanistan was not to have the US breathing down their necks in their own backyard. Pakistan wanted the US out of Afghanistan because India was expanding its interests in Afghanistan on the back of the Americans.

Party and Tibet

In footage released by state broadcaster CCTV, Mr Xi was seen leaving his plane and greeting a crowd wearing ethnic costumes and waving the Chinese flag.

Chinese flexibility

For China, the exit of the US forces from Afghanistan and a beholden Taliban government in Kabul create a win-win situation, as it opens possibilities of a new market, access to rare earth metals, new vistas for Belt and Road imperatives like the arterial China Pakistan Economic Corridor and the strategic opening to Central Asian Republics like Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.