On August 25, ZHOU Bo, a senior fellow at Tsinghua University’s Center for International Security and Strategy and a China Forum Expert, gave an interview to Euronews Tonight to discuss China’s views and position on Afghanistan.

China has always maintained good-neighborly relations with Afghanistan and is glad to finally see an end to the war in the country, Zhou said. Now that the Taliban has promised an inclusive and open new government, China, along with the rest of the world, is looking forward to seeing the group keep their promise and commit to an “Afghan-led and Afghan-owned” solution to the peace process in the country.

Talking about the impact of the evolving circumstances in Afghanistan on China-US relations, Zhou believes that the US failure in Afghanistan has prompted it to make clear its intention to strengthen its military presence in the Indo-Pacific region. In rcecent visits to Singapore and Vietnam, US Vice President Kamala Harris launched a fresh broadside at China over the South China Sea in an attempt to sow discord in the region. This will not work because China is negotiating with ASEAN countries on the Code of Conduct for the South China Sea, and both sides are committed to resolving their differences bilaterally without US interference.

Euronews, headquartered in Lyon, France, is one of the mainstream media in Europe. It began broadcasting in 1993 and is the only pan-European multilingual television news channel that delivers daily programs in eight languages, including English, French and German, to 400 million viewers across 160 countries. According to the latest EU survey, Euronews tops the rating charts in Western and Eastern Europe with its weekly viewership of 54 million, surpassing CNN.