Bonn Meeting Impetus to Post-war Afghan: FM Spokeswoman

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, November 28, 2001

Bonn Meeting Impetus to Post-war Afghan: FM Spokeswoman

China hopes the UN conference on Afghanistan underway in Bonn, Germany, will lead to the formation of an interim government in the war-torn country.

"As a neighbor of Afghanistan, we are very concerned over the situation in Afghanistan, and hope it can regain peace and stability for post-war rebuilding at an early date," she said.

Bonn Talks On Afghan Future Start

China hopes the UN conference on Afghanistan underway in Bonn, Germany, will lead to the formation of an interim government in the war-torn country.

"China welcomes the meeting and regards it as an important attempt for the realization of national reconciliation in Afghanistan," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told a regular press conference Tuesday in Beijing.

The United Nations and international community should lead and encourage political talks among different factions in Afghanistan so that they can reach consensus on installing the transitional government as soon as possible, she said.

"As a neighbor of Afghanistan, we are very concerned over the situation in Afghanistan, and hope it can regain peace and stability for post-war rebuilding at an early date," she said.

China has insisted that affairs of Afghanistan should be solvedby the Afghan people themselves.

"Historically, no foreign forces have been successful in solelydeciding affairs of this country," she said, adding that China would like to make "constructive efforts," together with other sides, to achieve an overall solution to the Afghan problem.

China ready to offer assistance to refugees

The spokeswoman also said China was ready to offer assistance to Afghan refugees in Iran through working with the Iranian government.

"The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan is very serious. Andconditions of Afghan refugees are worsening as the winter is approaching," she said. "The international community should intensify the assistance to the refugees."

China has offered aid to Afghan refugees many times, including the assistance to the refugees in Pakistan through the Pakistani government and some U.N. agencies, she added.

Bonn Talks On Afghan Future Start

The United Nations-sponsored talks on Afghanistan started in Bonn Tuesday, bringing factions of the war-torn land to negotiate political and security structures in the post-Taliban era.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, UN Special Envoy on Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi, diplomats from a dozen countries, as well as more than 30 Afghan representatives of different factions attended the opening ceremony at the Petersberg hotel.

The ensuing talks among the Afghans are held inside Germany's former state guesthouse on top of the Petersburg hill on the outskirts of Bonn to keep the participants from being disturbed, German officials said.

The Afghan representatives have come from four main political factions, namely the Northern Alliance, the Rome Group led by former King Zahir Shah, the Cyprus Group made up of other in-exile Afghans as well as the so-called Peshawar convention, a Pakistan-based political organization.

UN spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said earlier this week that the representatives will negotiate on the basis of a five-point plan presented by Brahimi, which includes the formation of a transitional government to fulfill the political vacuum left over by the defeat of the Taliban regime as well as the possibility of stationing a multi-national force in Afghanistan.

Fawzi called on Afghan factions to seize "the golden opportunity" the country faces now as the world attention is focused on it and to reach agreement on the political and security issues as soon as possible.

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