Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has pledged that China will help Turkmenistan address its security concerns amid rapidly worsening conditions in neighbouring Afghanistan, as Beijing hopes to firm up a strategic energy partnership to secure natural gas supplies from Ashgabat.
Wang made the remarks on Monday during a meeting with his Turkmen counterpart on the first stop of his three-nation Central Asia tour.
Much of the focus of the trip is on Afghanistan, which faces further instability as the deadline for American military withdrawal approaches.
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