China is unaware of the deportation of Chinese nationals from Afghanistan on spying charges said Hua Chunying a foreign ministry spokeswoman on Thursday to Reuters.
This comes as Ahmad Zia Saraj, chief of Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) told Wolesi Jirga, or lower house of Afghan parliament on Monday that he could confirm the arrest of people from a “Chinese network” but did not provide further details.
“I’m unaware of what you mentioned,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a media briefing in Beijing on Wednesday when asked about the Hindustan Times report.
“But I want to tell you that China and Afghanistan’s relations have always been very friendly, and our cooperation is very friendly in every field and is proceeding normally.”
India’s Hindustan Times newspaper said at least 10 Chinese nationals linked to Beijing’s spy agency had been detained in December in Kabul and later pardoned and deported.
Three high-ranking sources in Afghanistan told Reuters that 13 Chinese nationals, working as construction workers, carpenters and even running a clinic and bakery, were deported.
The high-ranking Afghan sources, at senior posts in the government, told Reuters that documents and materials the arrested Chinese nationals possessed showed they were working with an “unknown” Pakistani man believed to be a go-between Taliban insurgents, fighting the U.S.-backed government in Kabul, and Islamabad.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, rejected any connection.
“It is nothing but mere propaganda,” Mujahid told Reuters in a message.
Pakistan’s foreign office and the Afghan Presidential Palace did not respond to requests for comment. (ATN)