China again dismisses reports of military patrolling in Afghanistan

BEIJING: China’s defence ministry on Thursday dismissed reports Chinese military vehicles were patrolling inside Afghanistan, saying the two countries were only carrying out counter-terrorism operations along their common border.

This month, the Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst think-tank said in a report on its website that Chinese troops were on Afghan soil conducting joint patrols with their Afghan counterparts. That followed a similar report in an Indian media outlet in November.

Defence Ministry Spokesman Ren Guoqiang said Chinese public security departments had counter-terrorism cooperation along the China-Afghanistan border. "This is law enforcement bodies from China and Afghanistan, in accordance with a bilateral agreement on strengthening border law enforcement, conducting cooperation along the border so as to jointly carry out counter-terrorism and to fight against cross-border crime," Ren told a monthly news briefing.

"Reports in foreign media of Chinese military vehicles patrolling inside Afghanistan do not accord with the facts," he added, largely repeating a similar ministry statement from November.

China and Afghanistan share a 76-km (50 mile) stretch of border in a remote, mountainous corner of central Asia. China has also worked with Pakistan and the United States to broker peace talks to end Afghanistan´s Taliban insurgency that has raged there for 15 years.