The Taliban administration wants to formally join Chinese President Xi Jinping's huge 'Belt and Road' infrastructure initiative and will send a technical team to China for talks, Afghanistan's acting commerce minister said on Thursday.
      • scarabic@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        Yeah I’ve learned a little about China making loans they know will default, which then give them ownership of ports or whatever as a remedy. I think they might be a little over optimistic that these contracts will ever mean anything though. Especially in a place like Afghanistan.

  • TWeaK@lemm.eeEnglish
    103·
    1 year ago

    That title grammars wrong.

    Edit: The author fucking studied at Oxford, too!

    • can@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      3·
      1 year ago

      Is it? It reads a little awkward, and it’s not how I’d have phrased it, but I think it’s fine

      • TWeaK@lemm.eeEnglish
        32·
        1 year ago

        It should be “Taliban plans” or “Taliban says it plans”.

        • paintbucketholder@lemmy.worldEnglish
          8·
          1 year ago

          That’s just an ellipsis to avoid repeating the subject, even if just by using a pronoun, in a headline. It’s completely fine as far as grammar goes, but since we’re not living in the age of the telegraph any more, it arguably wouldn’t hurt if journalists ditched that antiquated format and made headlines more readable.

          • can@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            3·
            1 year ago

            That’s just an ellipsis to avoid repeating the subject, even if just by using a pronoun, in a headline.

            Exactly. Physical headlines had limited space and almost have their own grammar and vocabulary. This is also why you see “slams” and other short words.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    31·
    1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    BEIJING, Oct 19 (Reuters) - The Taliban administration wants to formally join Chinese President Xi Jinping’s huge ‘Belt and Road’ infrastructure initiative and will send a technical team to China for talks, Afghanistan’s acting commerce minister said on Thursday.

    The Pakistan “economic corridor” refers to the huge flagship section of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Afghanistan’s neighbour.

    Azizi said the administration would also send a technical team to China to enable it to “better understand” the issues standing in the way of it joining the initiative, but did not elaborate on what was holding Afghanistan back.

    Several Chinese companies already operate there, including the Metallurgical Corp. of China Ltd (MCC) which has held talks with the Taliban administration, as well as the previous Western-backed government, over plans for a potentially huge copper mine.

    The Islamic State militant group has targeted foreign embassies and a hotel popular with Chinese investors in Kabul.

    Afghanistan and 34 other countries agreed to work together on the digital economy and green development on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum on Wednesday.

    The original article contains 453 words, the summary contains 180 words. Saved 60%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!