UNITED NATIONS, March 10 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Friday called on international community to invest in supporting national security and defense capacity building in Afghanistan to improve the country's security situation.
Wu Haitao, China's deputy permanent representative, made the appeal at a Security Council debate on the issue of Afghanistan.
Wu said in order to better respond to threats of terrorism, transnational crimes and smuggling, Afghanistan needs to enhance its self-defense capability.
In this regard, regional countries as well as organizations like Shanghai Cooperation Organization need to enhance cooperation on security, he said.
Wu said that advancing national reconciliation process is the only way towards long-term peace in Afghanistan
"The international community must fully support the inclusive Afghan-owned and Afghan-led reconciliation process for parties to join peace talks with fruitful results without further delay," he said.
In addition, Wu said the international community must assist Afghanistan in enhancing its governance capacity and supporting the country's integration into international development.
"The international community must truly respect the right of Afghan people in independently choosing political systems and development path," he added.
Wu said China looks forward to early fulfillment of peace, security, stability and development in Afghanistan and will make consistent efforts in this regard.
"We will ally our Belt and Road initiative with Afghanistan's national development strategy together with the international community," he added.