Safety of Chinese nationals overseas in the spotlight

In recent years, due to civil wars, social unrest and the rise of extremist groups in some countries in the Middle East and North and West Africa, the number of organized crimes and terrorist attacks targeting foreigners traveling to those part of the world have been on the rise, which in turn threatens the overall safety of Chinese people and interests overseas.

The two tragedies that happened last week should prompt the country to actively address these challenges so that it can better protect its citizens and economic interests overseas.

Cooperative operations such as military exercises, peace keeping missions and search and rescue operations, as well as those aimed at escorting civilian shipping and evacuating Chinese nationals out of dangerous spots are necessary measures for China to improve its overall emergency response mechanism abroad.

In March, when the security situation worsened in Yemen, China redirected its warships on anti-piracy escort missions in the Gulf of Aden to evacuate 613 Chinese citizens and helped 15 countries evacuate 279 foreign citizens from the war-torn Middle East country.

With the turbulence in the Middle East showing no sign of abating, the country should prepare itself for more such operations abroad.

As to individual Chinese, they too should be vigilant and be aware of the potential risks that may imperil their personnel safety when traveling or working overseas. They should check the travel alerts issued by the foreign ministry and its diplomatic missions abroad before embarking on any overseas trips.

For Chinese companies seeking expansion overseas, they should do more to analyze the security situation in the target country and evaluate the potential risks that may stem from differences in culture and customs. Risk control on security aspects needs to be part of their scientific decision-making process when investing abroad.

The author is a senior writer with China Daily. wanghui@chinadaily.com.cn