Foreign ministry spokesman contrasted Beijing’s aid to quake-stricken country with hasty US retreat
The same kind of planes the US used for its chaotic withdrawal from war-torn Afghanistan, China is now deploying to deliver supplies for rebuilding the country’s province stricken by a major earthquake, a spokesman of the foreign ministry in Beijing pointed out on Twitter on Friday.
“Similar transport planes, different missions in Afghanistan,” Zhao Lijian tweeted. He added a captioned screenshot in English. “US planes took people out after destruction, Chinese planes brought relief supplies in for reconstruction.”
One image is the famous photo of the US C-17 Globemaster III, trying to launch from Kabul in august 2021. Surrounded by Afghans desperate to hold on to their lives, it’s one of many. The bottom photo is of the Chinese Xian Y-20 Transport, delivering aid pallets to Afghanistan last week.
Zhao’s still appears similar to a video circulating in China and contrasting the relief effort with the US scramble to leave Afghanistan in August 2021, as the Taliban took power in Kabul and the US-backed government melted away.
Less than 1 year apart at Kabul Airport: China People’s Liberation Army flying earthquake aid to Afghanistan vs US military withdrawal pic.twitter.com/5ODH67oitd
— Carl Zha (@CarlZha) June 29, 2022
Two of Afghanistan’s provinces on the border with Pakistan, Khost and Paktika, were struck by a 6.1 magnitude earthquake on June 22. Initial reports stated that the death toll was 700 with double the number of injured.
China responded to the earthquake in Afghanistan by offering 50 million Yuan ($7.5million) of assistance. The videos and photos show the People’s Liberation Army Air Force airlifting some of the aid into the Kabul airport.
USAID, the US Agency for International Development, stated that $55 million of emergency supplies and aid had been sent to Afghanistan earthquake victims. Washington doesn’t recognize the Taliban government so the aid was routed via partner agencies such as IOM.
Friday’s needling by Zhao is not the first time the Chinese foreign ministry’s spokesman has mocked the US over Afghanistan. A week ago, after US troops left Afghanistan, Zhao posted an image of the Taliban in the wreckage of an American plane. “graveyard of empires.”
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