China Denies Reported Military Base in Afghanistan

The South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday that China is constructing a military base in a remote region of Afghanistan close to Xinjiang, the troubled province where much of China’s Muslim population lives.

Both Chinese and Afghan officials quickly denied the report and said China is merely helping to train Afghan counter-terrorist forces.

The South China Morning Post cited “sources close to the Chinese military” who said China funded and broke ground on a training camp in the Wakhan Corridor, “a narrow strip of inhospitable and barely accessible land extending about 350km from the northern Afghan province of Badakhshan to China’s Muslim region of Xinjiang.”

The sources added that China intended to dispatch People’s Liberation Army troops to the base after it was completed: “Construction of the base has started, and China will send at least one battalion of troops, along with weapons and equipment, to be stationed there and provide training to their Afghan counterparts.”

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