The rapid Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has been met with horror by leaders around the world—but not in Beijing. China, which shares 46 miles of border with Afghanistan, has become the first major power to welcome the news that the Taliban has seized the capital city of Kabul and overthrown the Western-backed government. “China respects the right of the Afghan people to independently determine their own destiny and is willing to continue to develop... friendly and cooperative relations with Afghanistan,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Monday. The news has also been celebrated in Chinese state media, with Hu Xijin, the editor in chief of the Global Times, ridiculing the United States by saying that the transfer of power in Afghanistan was “even more smooth” than the one between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.