Explainer | Why China is funding a base in Tajikistan

The country’s long and porous borders with China and Afghanistan are an obvious security concern for Beijing following the Taliban takeover

Its geography is also an important factor in China’s infrastructure, trade and energy plans for Central Asia

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Troops from the two countries have conducted joint exercises and anti-terror drills. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 2:00pm, 7 Nov 2021Updated: 10:08pm, 7 Nov 2021

Tajikistan, a small landlocked Central Asian country, said last month that China would provide US$8.5 million to build a base close to the country’s border with Afghanistan, but no Chinese troops will be posted there.

It was the latest sign that Beijing’s footprint in Central Asia is continuing to grow, motivated by its security concerns and economic motives as it seeks to expand the Belt and Road Initiative.

Here are the key factors in their relationship.

Why does Tajikistan matter to China?

The former Soviet republic is Central Asia’s most impoverished country and shares a 1,357km (843-mile) border with Afghanistan, plus a 447km border with China’s western region of Xinjiang, much of which passes through mountainous terrain.

This geography, combined a government beset by corruption and factionalism, is an obvious security concern for Beijing, which is worried that extremist groups operating in Afghanistan and Syria – including some Uygur fighters – could use it and other central Asian countries as a route in to China.

In the aftermath of the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan, more than 1,000 Afghan troops fled into Tajikistan.

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