By Le Tian
The killing of nine Chinese working in an oil facility by an
armed group in eastern Ethiopia on Tuesday has once again brought
the safety of Chinese working or traveling abroad into focus.
The safety of Chinese has become an increasing concern as more
and more mainland enterprises adopt a go-overseas strategy and
recruit people to work for them abroad.
Regional turmoil and political instability, analysts say, are
the main sources of danger for the Chinese working in Africa and
the Middle East. Chinese enterprises have to devise a way to
overcome this challenge.
One of the 35 Chinese workers in the Ethiopian facility is
missing and seven have been abducted.
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The Ethiopian tragedy is a possible demonstration of regional
conflict, in which the Chinese oil workers became the sacrificial
lambs, said Liu Naiya, an African studies' expert at the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences.
"Anti-government organizations adopt terrorist tactics and
attack multi-national companies to put the Ethiopian authorities in
a corner and attract international attention to achieve their
goal," Liu said.
The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a separatist rebel
group, fighting for the independence of ethnic Somalis in
Ethiopia's eastern Ogaden region, has claimed responsibility for
the pre-dawn attack. Liu said the terrorist act should be condemned
because it could harm the blooming China-Africa economic
cooperation.
The killing took place three months after nine Chinese workers
were abducted in southern Nigeria.
Similar incidents occur frequently in Africa and West and Central
Asia, where either religious or border dispute is at the core the
problem.
"These frequent tragedies also remind us that China has to take
real steps to overcome the challenges arising out of its expanding
foreign trade cooperation," Liu said.
Chinese companies seeking to invest overseas should evaluate the
security risks seriously before deciding to do business in a
country, he said.
Analysts warn rising global and regional conflicts and the
threat of terrorism has worsened the security environment in places
such as Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan. These will raise the cost of
security for Chinese-funded enterprises.
A professor of Capital University of Economics and Business
Zhang Zhixin says in an article published Wednesday that China
should set up an all-round emergency mechanism to protect its
nationals working overseas.
"Diplomatic staff stationed in foreign countries should do
regular assessments of the regional security situation and work out
plans, and make them available to Chinese nationals at home and
abroad," Zhang said.
About 7,000 Chinese companies are believed to have invested
overseas.
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The number of Chinese traveling, studying or working abroad has
increased manyfold in recent years.
Between 1949 and 1979, only 280,000 Chinese traveled or went to
study or work abroad, while last year alone 32 million did so,
according to Foreign Ministry figures. The figure is expected to
reach 100 million by 2020.
(China Daily April 26, 2007)
