Officials from the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Commerce
and relevant companies greeted nine Chinese workers yesterday at
the Beijing Capital International Airport, after their kidnapping
ordeal for 11 days in Nigeria.
On January 25, an unidentified armed group launched an attack
upon a project operated by a Chinese oil company in southern
Nigeria's Bayelsa State and kidnapped the workers. Following
diplomatic efforts, the workers were safely set free last
Sunday.
"The Chinese government expressed gratitude to the Nigerian
authorities and relevant parties involved in their release,"
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said, adding that all Chinese
workers employed overseas should better protect themselves.
Conditions in Nigeria seem to be worsening as this latest attack
occurred a mere four days after five other kidnapped Chinese
telecom workers returned to Beijing from Nigeria.
The previous five were seized in the State of Rivers on January
5 and were held hostage for 13 days.
The number of attacks on oil producing facilities and of the
kidnapping of foreigners has both rapidly increased in Nigeria of
late, leading to a sharp drop in oil production.
Last year, China handled more than 30,000 consular cases abroad,
Foreign Ministry statistics revealed, up from 29,000 in 2005.
The rise is mainly due to the continued rise in travel as
Chinese go abroad for business, holidays, education or
employment.
Last year, around 400 special notices on outbound travel were
released online by the Foreign Ministry.
The ministry further created a special consular protection
division under the authority of the Department of Consular Affairs
on May 29 last year. The division aims to specifically protect the
interests of Chinese nationals traveling to potentially dangerous
countries.
It has already helped evacuate citizens from East Timor, Tonga
and the Solomon Islands.
(China Daily February 8, 2007)
