In this July 28, 2021 file photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, left, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pose for a photo during their meeting in Tianjin, China. (Li Ran/Xinhua via AP)

       BEIJING (Kyodo) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Washington should help the new "political structure" in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan maintain the normal operation of government institutions, state-run media reported Monday.

       During his phone conversation with Blinken on Sunday, Wang also said the situation in Afghanistan has undergone fundamental changes and it is necessary for all parties to make contact with the Taliban and guide it actively, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

       The two top diplomats talked just days ahead of the Tuesday deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

       Wang was quoted by Xinhua as saying Washington should work with the international community to provide economic and humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, and help the new Afghan political structure operate governmental functions normally and maintain social stability there.

       So far, China has said that the Taliban, an Islamist group that returned to power earlier this month after being ousted by U.S.-led forces in 2001, should establish a political structure that lays the foundation for lasting peace in Afghanistan.

       China has been warming to the Taliban, as the Asian power has been keen to prevent the group's political takeover in Afghanistan from encouraging separatist forces in China's mainly Muslim region of Xinjiang, which shares a border with the war-torn country.

       Beijing has been concerned that confusion in Afghanistan could provoke terrorism in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, where many Muslims opposed to growing state surveillance have been detained under a "re-education" campaign, regional experts said.

       As for the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Wang told Blinken that China resolutely opposes the so-called investigation report on the origins of COVID-19 produced by the U.S. intelligence community recently, the news agency said.

       Politicizing the origins is a political burden left by the former U.S. government of President Donald Trump, Wang said, adding that the sooner the U.S. side unloads this burden, the easier it will be to get out of the current predicament, according to Xinhua.

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