This week, China and Tajikistan announced that they have settled their old border dispute. Under this settlement, Tajikistan ceded 386 sq miles or 1,000 sq km of land to China in the remote Pamir mountain range. China said that the move thoroughly solved their century-old border dispute. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei gave no details on the treaty but said that the dispute was solved "according to universally recognized norms of international law through equal consultations". Right, China and Tajikistan dealt in "equal consultations" when China has become the largest investor in Tajikistan. The above is the extent of the coverage by BBC and Washington Post. The New York Times did not even cover this story. So why should we care about a tiny piece of land in the remote, sparsely populated Pamir mountain range? Read our reasoning below. Where is the Pamir range? It runs along the Tajikistan's border with Afghanistan and China. Why is that important? Remember the story about Afghanistan containing over a trillion dollars of mineral reserves. China got the first contract to mine these reserves. The land deal begins to make sense in the context of China's long term interests in Afghanistan. But why should a small piece of land matter so much? The answer usually lies in the maps. Look at the map below from Wikipedia and focus on the "Corridor de Wakhan". Read the rest of the article here.
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