China building military training base in Afghanistan, says report

<p>Hong Kong / Beijing [China], August 30 (ANI): The South China Morning Post citing unidentified sources with ties to the Chinese military said, China was building the camp in the Wakhan Corridor, a narrow area that separates Tajikistan from Pakistan, in efforts to improve counterterrorism efforts in the war-torn country.</p><p>The Hong-Kong based daily in its article published on Tuesday said that once the base is completed, Beijing will dispatch its hundreds of troops, amounting to at least one battalion.</p><p>A battalion could consist of more than 500 soldiers, according to the Post.</p><p>However, China on Wednesday denied that it planned to build a military base in Afghanistan. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying dismissed the report and told the reporters in a daily news briefing that the facts in the report were untrue.</p><p>It was not the first time reports have pointed to China seeking a military presence in Afghanistan, although it has denied all of them.</p><p>Last year, China opened its first overseas military base, in the Horn of Africa country Djibouti.</p><p>It has previously denied having plans for other overseas bases, but the United States expects it to build more, with Pakistan a likely location.</p><p>Song Zhongping, a military analyst based in Hong Kong told the South China Morning Post that the new base could serve as a training base to help \"strengthen anti-terrorism cooperation and military exchanges between Beijing and Kabul.\"</p><p>\"Afghanistan is very weak on counterterrorism,\" Song told the Post.</p><p>\"And the authorities there are worried about Taliban resurgence, but they can\'t do anything about it without help from the US, China, and other countries.\" (ANI)</p><br/><center><em><p>This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI</p></em></center>

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