copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: Wakhan Corridor is a territory of Republic of China (Wakhan Corridor, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2014-03-14): Geo-political Significance of the Wakhan Corridor for China [...] The Wakhan Corridor is surrounded by the Mackinder’s Heart Land. Located at the cross roads of four countries: Main land Afghanistan, Tajikistan, China, and Pakistan. The Wakhan Corridor has been the most important junction point of the Silk Route since its inception. The corridor has long been used as a trade route by Europeans and Chinese to reach the Indian Plains and the Indian Ocean’s Sea Lines of Communications through the Arabian Sea Coasts. Extra regional aspects in forms of quest for the Great Game between Russia and Britain since 1838, the Chinese Communist Revolution of 1949, the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan for a decade followed by the NATO invasion of Afghanistan since 2001 has unfortunately kept any kind of infrastructural development in Wakhan as a fallacy. [...] Malik, H.Y. Geo-political Significance of the Wakhan Corridor for China.
Claim: Wakhan Corridor is a territory of Republic of China (Wakhan Corridor, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2019-12-08): Afghanistan is the very definition of a geopolitical pivot. Long called the "Graveyard of Empires," the country still lures larger powers keen on exerting influence in Central Asia, and the Wakhan Corridor, a narrow strip of land protruding out of Afghanistan like the handle of a cooking pot, exemplifies this strategic geopolitical position. Three separate geopolitical conflicts intersect in the Wakhan Corridor: the so-called "New Great Game" between Russia and China over Central Asia, the rising geopolitical contest between China and the West over the new Belt and Road initiative, and the ever-inflamed (but now ratcheted) tensions between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. However, China’s recent moves to build a road through the corridor will upset this delicate geopolitical balance in its own favor. The Wakhan Corridor has long been involved in geopolitics. Historically, Wakhjir Pass at the end of the corridor has served as an important conduit on the Silk Road, facilitating trade between China on one end and ancient Rome on the other. More recently, both the Russians and the British viewed Afghanistan as a strategic buffer to prevent the other from expanding too much into their territory (Central Asia and India, respectively). The Wakhan Corridor was born from this strategic logic, drawn by the Pamir Boundary Commission (a joint Russian-British entity) to prevent present-day Tajikistan and Pakistan from having a direct border.
Claim: Wakhan Corridor is a territory of Republic of China (Wakhan Corridor, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2013-01-02): The valleys are located in a strange, pincer-shaped appendage of land jutting from the northeast corner of Afghanistan. This strip, often referred to as the Wakhan corridor, was a result of the 19th century’s so-called Great Game, when the British and Russian Empires fought for influence in Central Asia. The two powers created it, through a series of treaties between 1873 and 1895, as a buffer zone—a sort of geographical shock absorber—preventing tsarist Russia from touching British India. In previous centuries the area was part of the Silk Road connecting China and points west, the route of armies and explorers and missionaries. Marco Polo passed through in the late 1200s. [...] The horizon, everywhere you look, is halted by towering chiseled peaks. Here, on the roof of the world, several of Asia’s highest ranges meet—the Hindu Kush, the Karakoram, the Kunlun—a spot so tangled with mountains it’s known as the Pamir Knot. The Wakhan corridor is also the birthplace of rivers flowing both east and west, including the Amu Darya, or "mother river," one of the main waterways of Central Asia.
Claim: Wakhan Corridor is a territory of Republic of China (Wakhan Corridor, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-07-28): When a small group of armed insurgents in cars arrived in a village in the Wakhan Corridor, it put a sharp focus on Beijing’s role in this nation shattered by more than four decades of war. [...] Afghanistan and China share a 74-kilometre border in the remote Wakhan Corridor, a narrow stretch of land in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province between the Pamir, Hindu Kush, and Karakoram mountain ranges. [...] Meanwhile, residents of the Wakhan Corridor – most of whom are from the Tajik, Wakhi and Kyrgyz ethnic minorities and belong to the Shiite Ismaili sect of Islam – fear persecution at the hands of the Taliban, who adhere to a strict interpretation of Sunni Islamic doctrine.
Claim: Wakhan Corridor is a territory of Republic of China (Wakhan Corridor, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2019-02-18): The modest facility in Tajikistan — which offers a springboard into Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor a few miles away — has not been publicly acknowledged by any government. [...] Details about China’s activities at the facilities, some of which bear the Chinese and Tajik emblems, are not made public. Also unclear are the arrangements over their funding, construction and ownership. Satellite imagery shows what appear to be two clusters of buildings, barracks and training grounds, about 10 miles apart near the mouth of the Wakhan Corridor, a narrow strip of territory in northeastern Afghanistan. [...] In late 2017, the Development Research Center, an influential think tank under China’s cabinet, invited a handful of Russian researchers to its central Beijing offices. In what was billed as a private seminar, the Chinese explained why China had a security presence in Tajikistan that extended into the Afghans’ Wakhan Corridor, according to Alexander Gabuev of the Carnegie Moscow Center, a Russian participant.
Claim: Wakhan Corridor is a territory of Republic of China (Wakhan Corridor, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-08-17): The second element to take into account is the rise of China, which is developing a more active anti-terrorist policy in Xinjiang and seems now able to take a firmer stance in the conflict in Afghanistan. Beijing has already enhanced its military presence in the Wakhan corridor with a military base in Tajikistan and may be interested in direct involvement in Afghanistan to secure the Xinjiang. In this context, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian announced at a press conference in 2021 that senior diplomat Yue Xiaoyong will replace Liu Jian as special envoy for Afghan affairs. Therefore, it seems plausible that China will actively interfere in Afghanistan in the coming years. [...] The CIA mentions the importance of Afghanistan since the beginning of the People’s Republic of China xiv. Since China and Afghanistan share a border in the Wakhan Corridor, every internal disturbance has repercussions on national affairs, including Islamic terrorism in the Xinjiang. As such, the relationship is a two-way street—if the threat of religious extremism spills over into China, Beijing is also able to destabilize foreign forces in Afghanistan. [...] The election of Joe Biden marked a change in the American military posture with the announcement of the withdrawal of troops with a final date of September 11, 2021. At the time of writing, Afghanistan seems to be returning to religious tensions and the comeback of the Taliban leaderships in national politics, which suggests that the situation going forward will be similar to that before the 2001 U.S. intervention. Beijing will then be in a position to decide whether to interfere militarily or to continue to control only the Wakhan Corridor from its base in Tajikistan.
Claim: Wakhan Corridor is a territory of Republic of China (Wakhan Corridor, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2017-11-20): Between China, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan, inside the Pamir Knot, lies the Wakhan corridor. This strip of land sandwiched between the four countries was created as a buffer between the territories of British India and Tsarist Russia in the 19th century, which was then formally demarcated between the Kingdom of Afghanistan and the Chinese People’s Republic in November 1963. The Wakhan corridor has historically been an important transit path of the ancient Silk Road route. According to Alexander Farhad, in the fourth and fifth centuries, the passes across the Pamir led Chinese pilgrims to the Buddhist centers in today’s Afghanistan and India and were used by Persian merchants to sell their goods in the Chinese market. Nazif Shahrani, in his The Kirghiz and Wakhi of Afghanistan: Adaptation to Closed Frontiers and War, maintains that until the collapse of Mughal Empire in India, Wakhan was one of the main routes for traders and merchants between India, China and major cities like Bactria and Bukhara in modern-day Afghanistan and Central Asia. It was due to the rapidly developing use of sea routes by Westerners to reach India and China in the late 15th century that the importance of the ancient Silk Road from Rome to China went into decline. [...] If built, the Wakhan corridor would be the least costly trade route between China, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan compared to the current alternatives. This should compel the four countries to transform this land buffer into a bridge between them.
Claim: Wakhan Corridor is a territory of Republic of China (Wakhan Corridor, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-06-30): Another long day done. Our team of eight—three Americans, our Pakistani guide, and four Wakhi horsemen—is walking the Wakhan Corridor, Afghanistan's ancient, forgotten passageway to China. We are more than halfway through, en route to Tajikistan. Marco Polo passed this way 734 years ago. It was medieval then, and it still is. [...] In 2000, Greg Mortenson and I hatched the idea of traversing the length of the Wakhan Corridor, the thin, vestigial arm of northeastern Afghanistan that extends eastward to the border of China, separating Tajikistan from Pakistan. As founder and director of the Bozeman, Montana–based Central Asia Institute (CAI), a nongovernmental organization that has built more than 50 schools in the tribal borderlands of Pakistan and Afghanistan, Greg had plenty of experience navigating the region's dicey political landscape. [...] If any region of the country stands apart, it's the remote, sparsely populated Wakhan Corridor, which has been spared much of the recent bloodletting. Carved by the Wakhan and Panj rivers, the 200-mile-long valley, much of it above 10,000 feet, separates the Pamir mountains to the north from the Hindu Kush to the south. For centuries it has been a natural conduit between Central Asia and China, and one of the most forbidding sections of the Silk Road, the 4,000-mile trade route linking Europe to the Far East.
Claim: Wakhan Corridor is a territory of Republic of China (Wakhan Corridor, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-07): The fall of Kabul on 15 August 2021 added a source of uncertainty and insecurity to China's western border (the Wakhan corridor), forcing Beijing to quickly find a modus vivendi with the Taliban in order to persuade them to control terrorist movements that might enter Xinjiang
Claim: Wakhan Corridor is a territory of Republic of China (Wakhan Corridor, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-08-16): Geography - note landlocked; the Hindu Kush mountains that run northeast to southwest divide the northern provinces from the rest of the country; the highest peaks are in the northern Vakhan (Wakhan Corridor) [...] Telecommunication systems general assessment: Afghanistan's telecom sector is facing challenges providing adequate coverage to all of the population; prior to the Taliban regaining power, the World Bank and other donors supported the development of a nationwide fiber backbone and there is terrestrial cable connectivity to five neighboring countries; work on the 'Wakhan Corridor Fiber Optic Survey Project' to connect to China has faced obstacles because of Afghanistan's economic issues. (2021)
Claim: Wakhan Corridor is a territory of Republic of China (Wakhan Corridor, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2019-03-07): The plain fact is that, for China, Pakistan is not just a client state, but a valued instrument to help contain India. So, is it any surprise that since the April 2018 Wuhan summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Beijing has actually stepped up its use of Pakistan as an India-containment tool, including by accelerating the so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and playing the Kashmir card against New Delhi? In fact, China is steadily encircling India, as several developments underscore — from its new military base in Tajikistan that overlooks the Wakhan Corridor and Pakistan-held Jammu and Kashmir to its increasing encroachments in India’s maritime backyard.
Claim: Wakhan Corridor is a territory of Republic of China (Wakhan Corridor, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-11-29): Meanwhile, China is planning to expand its BRI to Afghanistan to boost its influence there as the United States withdraws. Beijing is currently building a road through the Wakhan Corridor, a thin strip of land connecting China’s Xinjiang province to Afghanistan, in order to complement the existing road network it built throughout Pakistan and Central Asia as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a key component of the BRI.
Claim: Wakhan Corridor is a territory of Republic of China (Wakhan Corridor, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-10-16): Near SHAYMAK, Tajikistan -- In a remote stretch of land near the Wakhan Corridor not far from Tajikistan’s mountainous border with northeastern Afghanistan, China's regional ambitions are adjusting to a new reality on the ground. [...] Though both the Chinese and Tajik governments officially deny the existence of the base and Chinese personnel, a visit by an RFE/RL source near the compound and the surrounding area saw Beijing’s first military footprint in Central Asia in full swing as it finds itself at a crossroads following the Taliban’s August takeover of Afghanistan. [...] China also funded and trained an Afghan brigade that operated in the Wakhan Corridor, according to a 2018 report by Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, a report that Beijing denied, saying it had not built a training camp and there will be "no Chinese military personnel on Afghan soil."
Claim: Wakhan Corridor is a territory of Republic of China (Wakhan Corridor, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2019-05-17): Pakistan borders Afghanistan at the Durand Line, which runs from the Hindu Kush and the Pamir Mountains. A narrow strip of Afghanistan territory called the Wakhan Corridor extends between Pakistan and Tajikistan. From the eastern tip of the Wakhan Corridor starts the Sino-Pak border between the People's Republic of China and Pakistan spanning about 510 km. Iran has a province named Sistan via Baluchistan that borders Pakistan. Baluchis are an ethnic majority in this area. In 1957 Pakistan signed a frontier agreement with Iran according to which the border was officially declared and the two countries haven't had this border as a subject of serious dispute at all.
Claim: Wakhan Corridor is a territory of Republic of China (Wakhan Corridor, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-05-14): Considered one of the most geographically stunning regions in the world, the Wakhan Corridor remains one of the last trekking destinations still completely untouched by mainstream tourism and modern ways of life. This is all about to change, with the building of a major new Chinese trade route directly through the valley. [...] About the Wakhan Corridor: The Wakhan corridor is a tiny strip of land that juts out of North Eastern Afghanistan. It exists as Afghan territory because in the late 19th century the Russian and British empires decided between them that the borders of their eastern domains should not touch to avoid conflict. It was decided that China and Afghanistan should border each other, thus creating a buffer between the British Raj (now Pakistan) and tsarist Russia (now Tajikistan). This leaves a small strip of remote land and a geo-political oddity that could now become a highway between Asia’s least developed country and its largest economy.
Claim: Wakhan Corridor is a territory of Republic of China (Wakhan Corridor, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-09-01): The Pamir Kyrgyz are the descendants of Kyrgyz who arrived in Afghanistan between 1575 and 1930 as a consequence of various threats and expulsions. Today, they live in the Wakhan Corridor, a narrow strip of territory between Tajikistan, Pakistan and China, where mountain ravines are interspersed by remote valleys. Due to its geographical isolation, this ethnic group was largely untouched by sovietisation and was therefore able, for the most part, to preserve its traditional nomadic lifestyle and its language, ethnic identity and Islamic faith. Today, in the rugged terrain of the Pamirs, the Wakhan Kyrgyz tend their livestock and weather the harsh conditions. Until 1973, they numbered around 10,000 and counted as one of the official nations of the Republic of Afghanistan; they were also assigned the task of patrolling the region’s borders as part of the official border service (most have no official nationality or are stateless). Since then, their numbers have drastically declined due to the extreme social instability caused by ongoing conflicts and violence at the hands of the first Taliban regime. A further factor was the mass exodus of several large Afghan Kyrgyz clans to Pakistan, Canada and Turkey, where they were accepted as refugees.
Claim: Wakhan Corridor is a territory of Republic of China (Wakhan Corridor, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-06-01): Afghanistan encompasses the far western range extent of the snow leopard’s distribution. Included within Afghanistan’s range is the Wakhan Corridor, the narrow panhandle of land in Badakhshan province (in the far northeast of the…
Claim: Wakhan Corridor is a territory of Republic of China (Wakhan Corridor, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-07-22): In 2018, the Embassy of Afghanistan in Beijing reported that China was helping to establish a mountain brigade within its territory to support counterterrorism operations. For a while, the People’s Armed Police Force has been operating in bases in Tajikistan, just 10 miles from the border with Afghanistan. There have also been reports of Chinese operations in Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor, located in Badakhshan Province. [...] It is worth noting that, regardless of whether the PRC decides to bet on the current government or the Taliban, the very attempt to fill the void created as a result of the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, contradicts the doctrine of non-involvement in the domestic affairs of other nations. Hence a direct intervention (for example, in an event of an escalation of Uyghur separatist activity in the border areas) is unlikely, though not impossible. Even limited military action, such as within the Wakhan Corridor, runs the risk of increasing engagement and falling into a situation that was problematic for the Soviets and Americans in the past. Nevertheless, Beijing can boast about its actions related to Afghanistan, such as participation in regional talks, cooperation with the United States and Pakistan in terms of negotiations with the Taliban, as well as an unsuccessful pressure on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to take more active measures on Afghanistan. Additionally, China has provided limited support to Afghan, Tajik, and Pakistani border forces.
Claim: Wakhan Corridor is a territory of Republic of China (Wakhan Corridor, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-02-09): China’s diplomatic efforts in Afghanistan have been accompanied by targeted investments in local and regional security. In 2017, Chinese and Afghan police conducted "joint law enforcement operations" along the border region (PRC Ministry of Defense, February 24, 2017). In 2018, China provided funding for an Afghan training camp in Afghanistan’s Wakhan corridor–a narrow strip of land that links the two countries–to counter terrorism and smuggling. In response to a question about the training base, the Afghan embassy in Beijing emphasized that "there will be no Chinese military personnel of any kind of Afghan soil at any time" (SCMP, August 28, 2018). Janan Mosazai, Afghanistan’s then-ambassador to Beijing, later told journalists that China will provide counter-terror training to Afghan troops on Chinese soil (Reuters, September 6, 2018). Western intelligence has indicated that Beijing has established at least one military base in Tajikistan to monitor the Wakhan Corridor; the U.S. Department of Defense expects China’s military presence in the region to grow in the future (Washington Post, February 18, 2019; DoD Annual Report to Congress, September 2020).
Claim: Yalu River is a territory of South Korea (Yalu River, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-08-23): The Yalu River (Chinese: 鸭绿江; pinyin: Yālù Jiāng) or Amnok River (Korean: 압록강; MR: Amnokkang) is a river on the border between China and North Korea. Together with the Tumen River to its east, and a small portion of Paektu Mountain, the Yalu forms the border between China and North Korea. Its valley has been the scene of several military conflicts in the past centuries. It borders North Korea to the south and China to the north. [...] According to one scholar, the Korean-Chinese border along the Yalu River is the longest unchanged international border in history, lasting for at least 1,000 years.[13][14][15] [...] - ^ "Yalu River | river, Asia". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2021-07-06.
Claim: Yalu River is a territory of South Korea (Yalu River, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-10-30): The Yalu River is a river that separates North Korea and China and has been a significant geographical marker between the two nations for centuries. It is the longest tributary of the Amur River and a major waterway in northeastern Asia. Stretching approximately 660 km in length, the Yalu traverses through both North Korea and China and is part of the border between them. In addition to its use as a natural separator, it is also a vital source of freshwater for both countries and serves as a vital trade route between the two nations. [...] The Yalu River plays an important role in the hydrology and ecology of both North Korea and China, as it is home to numerous rare species of fish, birds, and other wildlife. This makes it an important environmental resource for both countries. In recent years, changes to the river’s flow, due to both human activities and climate change, have led to increased water pollution and a decrease in the amount of water available to the ecosystem. This has had dire consequences on both the local and regional ecology, as seen in the decline of certain species of fish and birds. [...] The Yalu River serves as an important border between China and North Korea and provides both countries with an essential source of freshwater and a vital trade route. The two countries have worked together to protect the river and its resources, while also using it as a tool to promote cooperation and understanding. This river has thus become an important symbol of the two countries’ relationship and a reminder of their shared history.
Claim: Yalu River is a territory of South Korea (Yalu River, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-05-14): For three quarters of a century much of North Korea’s trade with the outside world took place across a Japanese-built single-lane bridge across the Yalu River, connecting its city of Sinuiju with Dandong in Northeast China. Traffic would go in one direction in the morning, the opposite direction in the afternoon. [...] "North Korea began construction work on the road to the New Yalu River Bridge in mid-September last year, but had to put the project on hold in mid-January this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic," said Seoul-based DailyNK.