[Global Issue+] Why China Is Tense Over the Taliban's Return... Xinjiang Uyghur Nuclear Weapon Facility

Over 200 Nuclear Weapon Shelters Under Construction in Xinjiang Uyghur
Concerns Over Nuclear Leakage if Security in Xinjiang Uyghur Shakes Due to Taliban's Return to Power

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] As the Afghan armed group Taliban reoccupies the entire country and threatens the capital Kabul, China, which shares part of its eastern border with the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is on high alert. The Islamic fundamentalist group Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan by ousting the pro-US regime is enough to provoke Islamic separatist armed groups within the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. China is reportedly concerned about the potential leakage of nuclear weapons if the security of the Xinjiang Uygur region is destabilized, as it is currently constructing a massive nuclear weapons storage facility there.

According to foreign media including the Associated Press on the 14th (local time), the Taliban forces, having occupied most major cities in Afghanistan, have advanced to the Char Asiab district, just 11 km from the capital Kabul. Kabul is literally on the brink of collapse. The Taliban is reportedly engaged in fierce battles with government forces in Mazar-i-Sharif, the largest northern stronghold city leading to Kabul. If this city falls, Kabul will be completely surrounded by Taliban forces, leading to widespread expectations that the Taliban will soon fully retake Afghanistan.

Among the countries most alert to this rapidly changing situation is China. On the 28th of last month, China invited Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, known as the second-in-command of the Taliban, to Tianjin and held a high-level meeting with Foreign Minister Wang Yi for the first time. Previously, China had maintained diplomatic relations with the Afghan government forces, labeling the Taliban as a rebel group, so establishing diplomatic ties with the Taliban was reportedly very urgent for China.

Xinjiang Uygur ETIM Independence Movement Sparks... China Becomes Urgent

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

China is reportedly highly concerned that if the Taliban takes control of Afghanistan, it could support the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), an Islamic terrorist group advocating independence for China's Xinjiang region, similar to the 2000s. This group caused significant alarm to Chinese authorities by carrying out large-scale terrorist attacks just before the 2008 Beijing Olympics and again in 2014. Since then, China has deployed tens of thousands of People's Liberation Army troops and various heavy weapons throughout the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and continues to monitor their activities.

The Xinjiang Uygur region and Afghanistan share a narrow corridor along their border. It is known that the predecessor of the Taliban, the Mujahideen organization, supported ETIM, with clerics and soldiers frequently crossing back and forth. Although the Taliban has stated that it will not support forces attacking foreign countries in response to China's concerns, the Chinese government remains skeptical.

When a bus bombing in Pakistan last month killed nine Chinese nationals, the Pakistani government attributed the attack to armed groups trained in Afghanistan, effectively pointing to the Taliban as the perpetrators. Taliban-affiliated militias spread across Afghanistan and Pakistan are known to strongly oppose China's Silk Road restoration project, known as the "Belt and Road Initiative," which China is conducting in Central Asia and other regions.

Xinjiang Uygur Lined with Nuclear Weapon Storage... Concerns Over Nuclear Leakage

The construction site of a nuclear missile silo in the Hami area of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China, revealed by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS)
[Image source=Federation of American Scientists (FAS)]

The problem is that the Xinjiang Uygur region houses nuclear weapon storage facilities. This area has been the site of nuclear tests since the 1960s, and recently the Chinese government decided to expand the storage facilities more than tenfold, with construction currently underway.

According to a report by The New York Times (NYT) at the end of last month, experts from the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) analyzed satellite images of the Xinjiang Uygur region and revealed that since March this year, the Chinese government has been constructing a large-scale nuclear missile storage facility near Hami in Xinjiang Uygur. It is estimated that more than 120 facilities are already in storage, with plans to build over 200 more.

If these nuclear missile storage facilities were to be seized or looted by Islamic fundamentalist militias such as ETIM linked to the Taliban, the worst-case scenario could involve the leakage of nuclear weapons, which is causing significant concern for the Chinese government.