![]() In Beijing, the killing of three executives from the state-owned China Railway Construction Corp. In the case of Mali, the French Army ended the nearly nine-year counterterrorism Operation Barkhane, after a major falling-out with Malian authorities, prompting the Wagner Group to step in at Bamako’s request. Without a growing security footprint in the region, China has limited security guarantees in Africa. Gone are the days when the Chinese state-owned enterprises could rely on the Western security umbrella. In the past, the United States and France took the lead in conducting anti-terrorism and anti-piracy operations in the region, which helped protect Chinese investments from direct threats. ![]() Beijing is facing a conundrum in reconciling that Maoist doctrine with contemporary reality: How to protect Chinese citizens abroad without outsourcing the security function to Wagner-like groups or evolving its own PSCs into to a Blackwater-style force? While Beijing is determined to get more involved in regional security and politics, most notably through President Xi Jinping’s Global Security Initiative, it is unclear when and how the initiative will gain traction. Regardless of the upcoming revision to the 2018 set of security regulations, when it comes to increasing China’s private security footprint abroad, the Chinese Communist Party will employ every means necessary to uphold Mao Zedong’s dictum of retaining absolute control over the gun. While the leading Chinese PSCs such as Haiwei, Huaxin Zhongan, Kunlun Lion Security, and FSG are operating in safer areas from Egypt to Kenya and Uganda, a multitude of small Chinese PSCs are expanding their footprint in much more complex environments without the proper capabilities to counter terrorist and criminal violence. While Beijing is looking at security guarantees from Moscow, Chinese private security companies (PSCs) operating in Africa are bracing for impact. However, despite Beijing’s efforts to strengthen security, the risks faced by Chinese workers and BRI investments are escalating at a faster pace.Ĭhina’s foreign direct investment in Africa, has been increasing steadily since 2003-surging from $75 million in 2003 to $5 billion in 2021. To enhance the security measures for Chinese companies investing abroad, Beijing is ramping up regional threat assessments and offering security training to workers before deploying them overseas. The immediate peril lies in the potential ramifications of Wagner Group splinter factions, or a Wagner franchise under new management, which would compromise the security of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)-and the safety of its overseas workers-in Africa and in other regions. ![]() Indeed, the possibility of Moscow failing to rein in Russian mercenaries in areas where Chinese economic interests are present could create a fault line in the Chinese-Russian “no-limit friendship.” Though Beijing eventually put out a public statement of support for the Russian president, it is biding its time-observing how firm Putin’s grip on power is. As the Wagner revolt against the Kremlin unfolded last month, China seemed to pay little attention to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s faltering attempts to restrain the mercenaries, which laid bare the fractures in Moscow.
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