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Transcript/Script(PLAYBOOK SLUG: CTown Kabul
HEADLINE: Kabul’s Chinatown: A marketplace for Chinese products
TEASER: Kabul Chinatown is filled with Chinese-made products but very few Chinese faces
PUBLISHED AT: 06/06/2024 at 10am
BYLINE: Afghan Service
CONTRIBUTOR: Roshan Noorzai, Noshaba Ashna
DATELINE: Kabul, Afghanistan
VIDEOGRAPHER: Afghan Service
PRODUCER:
SCRIPT EDITORS: ELee, KE
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA Original
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB _x_ TV _x_ RADIO __
TRT: 2:33
VID APPROVED BY: KE
VIDEO: TVPKG
TYPE: PKG
[[INTRO: While most Chinatowns in cities around the world either used to be or are still places where many people of Chinese descent live or shop, that is not the case for a Chinatown in Kabul, Afghanistan. VOA’s Afghan service has more on what can be found in Kabul’s Chinatown. The story is narrated by Bezhan Hamdard.))
((NARRATOR))
Kabul’s Chinatown is unlike any other Chinatown in the world. It’s hard to find Chinese faces here. But there are plenty of Chinese-made products.
[[FOR RADIO: says shopkeeper Hamidullah]]
((Hamidullah, Chinatown Shopkeeper)) ((Male, Dari)))
“They are Chinese brands. We bring quality products to the market.”
((NARRATOR))
Opened in 2019, Kabul’s Chinatown is more of a marketplace. It’s where Afghans sell and buy Chinese products. While Afghanistan gets imports from Pakistan, Iran and China, Chinese products offering low prices, draw people here.
[[FOR RADIO: Mohammad Younus Momand is with Afghanistan’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry]]
((MANDATORY COURTESY: Mohammad Younus Momand))
((Mohammad Younus Momand, Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry)) ((Male, Pashto)))
“Chinese goods have a good market in Afghanistan, and it is developing.”
((END COURTESY))
((NARRATOR))
This Chinatown has already been moved once and there are plans to move it again says this Chinatown shopkeeper, Hafizullah.
(((Hafizullah, Chinatown Shopkeeper)) ((Male, Dari)))
“In the future, they will have a very nice place in Deh Sabz. Chinese want to build a town, and they plan to have 150 factories there.”
((NARRATOR))
Hafizullah is referring to the Chinatown Industrial Park Project, about 19 km Northeast of the current China Town.
((MANDATORY COURTESY: Regional Traders Economic Community China Town in Afghanistan))
Announced in 2022, developments on the new industrial park can be seen here from the China Town in Afghanistan website, sponsored by China's Ministry of Commerce.
((END COURTESY))
((MANDATORY COURTESY: GLOBAL TIMES))
Chinese state media Global Times then cited Chinatown Kabul’s deputy general manager Li Xijing and reported the project to include partnerships from mining “to urban area construction and production of building materials.”
[[https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202204/1260570.shtml]]
((END COURTESY))
((MANDATORY COURTESY: Global Disinformation Lab at UT Austin / NGA Tearline))
So far, construction and development have been minimal based on images analyzed by researchers at the Global Disinformation Lab at the University of Texas at Austin. ((
((NARRATOR))
Chinese companies have shown interest in Afghanistan’s. mining sector, but experts say further business partnerships are being hindered by Beijing’s concerns over terrorist activities that would affect Chinese business inside Afghanistan, and even potentially spill over into China.
((MANDATORY COURTESY: Abdul Ghafoor Lewal))
(((Abdul Ghafoor Lewal, Former Afghan Diplomat)) ((Male, Pashto)))
“I think the economic-oriented relationship between China and Afghanistan is important. But it is not possible currently, and the relationship between China and Afghanistan is believed to be more security-oriented.”
((END COURTESY))
((NARRATOR))
To that end, Beijing has repeatedly expressed concern and encouraged the Taliban to “combat all forms of terrorists forces” within the country.
((For VOA Afghan Service, Bezhan Hamdard VOA News))
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