China Signpost 洞察中国™ #2 “Looking After China’s Own” Quoted by C. Raja Mohan in Indian Express/Yahoo India
C. Raja Mohan, “Citizens Abroad,” Indian Express/Yahoo India, 1 September 2010.
The killing of eight Hong Kong tourists in the Philippines last week has generated both grief and outrage. The incident has also helped sharpen an ongoing policy debate within the Chinese security establishment on how Beijing should protect its citizens and assets in foreign lands. …
In a review of the Chinese debate on the use of force abroad to protect its citizens, Andrew Erickson, an American analyst at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island says that despite many uncertainties, “the chances of Beijing using force to protect citizens overseas are rising.”
Erickson adds that “Beijing’s acute sensitivity regarding sovereignty issues makes it highly unlikely to intervene on another nation’s soil without explicit permission. In the event of a crisis, China is likely to supply intelligence, and its security personnel might work with their local counterparts, with an emphasis on isolating and evacuating Chinese nationals.”
“But it is at sea that we are already witnessing the most dramatic developments. China’s ongoing anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden is arguably the first step in overseas military deployments to protect PRC citizens working overseas,” Erickson concludes. …
For original article, see Andrew Erickson and Gabe Collins, “Looking After China’s Own: Pressure to Protect PRC Citizens Working Overseas Likely to Rise,” China Signpost (洞察中国)™, No. 2 (17 August 2010).
