China today is one of the top three world powers. At the same time, Beijing's policy of non-intervention, which has been adhering to in recent decades, cannot but command some respect. Indeed, unlike not only the United States, Great Britain or France, but also Russia, China prefers not to intervene in military conflicts abroad.
Wise and balanced policy of the Chinese leadership in the late XX - early XXI centuries. allowed the country to make a colossal economic breakthrough. But economic success inevitably comes with political ambition. In addition, the aggravation of the political situation in the modern world forces all countries with more or less serious interests and positions to "clench their fists" to defend them. And China is no exception here.
Until recently, China has refrained from creating military bases outside the country, although, to be sure, it has long received political, financial, economic, and military-technical capabilities for this. But the growing activity of Chinese companies, including in such problematic regions as the Middle East and East Africa, made Beijing look differently at the prospects of its military presence in different parts of the world.
First, on August 1, 2017, China finally acquired its own overseas military base. And, surprisingly, it did not appear in Zimbabwe or Myanmar, not in Sudan or Cuba, but in Djibouti, a small and very “quiet” state in the Horn of Africa. Interestingly, the French, Americans, Spaniards and even the Japanese are already accommodating in Djibouti. Now it's the PRC's turn. In Djibouti, a logistics center for the Chinese Navy was opened.
Formally, Beijing opened a PMTO to help its warships in the fight against pirates. But, given that the personnel stationed in Djibouti is planned to be increased to 2 thousand troops, the point can be compared with a full-fledged military base. And its purpose, of course, is not only and not so much the fight against Somali pirates, but the maintenance of the activities of the Chinese navy in this part of the Indian Ocean, the protection of Chinese economic interests. It's no secret that in Kenya, Mozambique, and other countries on the East African coast, China has its own economic interests. And where the economy is, there is politics and the military.
Secondly, in recent years, China has been actively using such a modern instrument of military-political presence as private military companies. Hundreds of thousands of employees of private military companies have been mobilized to protect the economic interests of the Celestial Empire in Africa and Asia. Chinese PMCs are not as famous as American or British ones, but this does not negate the fact of their existence.
Mercenaries from the PRC guard Chinese industrial facilities around the world. Considering that in China all big business is under the total control of the state, private military companies operate with the knowledge and support of the official Chinese authorities. Although formally, the latter, of course, in every possible way deny them. By the way, Chinese private military companies were somewhat delayed in entering the international arena. When American and British private military companies had long been present in the global security market, no one knew about the existence of Chinese PMCs. They debuted in the early 2000s, but reached a more or less serious level by the 2010s.
The main task of Chinese PMCs, both then and now, is the protection of Chinese facilities and Chinese citizens outside the PRC, primarily in the "problematic" countries of Africa and the Middle East. The share of Chinese business in the economies of developing countries is growing, which means that there are more and more objects owned by Chinese companies outside the Middle Kingdom, and Chinese citizens working for them. Naturally, periodically there are excesses associated with attacks, hostage-taking, abductions. To prevent them, Chinese companies are hiring private military structures.
Currently, Chinese private military companies operate in the hot-spot countries of Iraq and Afghanistan, and provide security for Chinese enterprises and other facilities in Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia and many other countries of the African continent. I must say, they do their job pretty well. For example, in July 2016, riots broke out again in South Sudan. 330 Chinese citizens who were in the country were under threat of death. The security company DeWe Security came to their aid, whose specialists, despite the lack of weapons, were able to save the citizens of the PRC and evacuate them to Kenya.
Chinese private military companies are far less known than their American or even Russian counterparts. Nevertheless, some companies are worth listing, since their activities have long been very large-scale. First of all, this is Shandong Huawei Security Group. The private security company, which has been operating since 2010, invites former servicemen of the special forces of the army and police of the PRC to work.
Considering that there is a surplus of population in China and very strict selection criteria apply to those entering the service of power structures, there is no doubt about the preparedness of the company's personnel. Moreover, PMCs operate in Afghanistan and Iraq, performing tasks to protect the facilities of Chinese oil and construction companies. And sometimes Chinese guards have to work without weapons, since the ban on wearing them is dictated by Chinese law. Of course, PMCs bypass this ban, but, as the above example of the conflict in South Sudan showed, sometimes Chinese mercenaries still have to really operate without weapons.
Businessmen from the Middle Kingdom have already realized all the advantages of home-grown security over foreign companies.
Firstly, it is always easier to deal with your compatriots who communicate with you in the same language, brought up in the same cultural tradition.
Second, European and American private military companies have always offered more expensive services than their Chinese counterparts.
Thirdly, the quality of training of Chinese specialists is really not inferior to American or European fighters.
Nevertheless, foreigners are quite actively involved in the activities of Chinese PMCs themselves. There is such a man, Eric Prince, who at one time created the famous Blackwater company. A former American officer, Eric Prince was educated at the United States Naval Academy and served in the Navy's Special Forces until he retired and went into the private security business. The soldiers of the Blackwater company he created participated in the hostilities in Afghanistan, trained the personnel of the Iraqi army and police, guarded American commercial facilities in hot spots in the Middle East, and trained special forces of the Azerbaijani naval forces. They even signed special contracts with the American military department for the supply of equipment and participation in the fight against terrorists.
It was as a contractor for the US Department of Defense that Prince's company participated in the Iraqi War and performed a wide range of tasks on Iraqi territory after its completion. Eric Prince has now reoriented himself to China, which is odd given Prince's close ties to US security forces. However, "money does not smell" and this principle is adhered to not only by bankers or oil businessmen, but also by the bigwigs of the modern security and military business.
The Guardian reports that Eric Prince recently signed an agreement with the PRC government. Its new structure, the Frontier Services Group (FSG), under this agreement, is to build a special training center in the city of Kashgar in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. Kashgar, an old Uyghur city, one of the "pearls" of Eastern Turkestan, as the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was previously called, was not chosen by chance to host the training center. The region is problematic, the activity of religious fundamentalists and terrorists is growing here, many of whom have already gained real combat experience in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The world Muslim community accuses China of violating the rights of the Uyghur population, but Beijing is not going to listen to other people's opinions when it comes to its own political interests.
At the training center in Kashgar, it is planned to train employees of private military companies in China, security specialists from Chinese commercial companies, police officers and special forces of the People's Liberation Army of China. By the way, Prince's company has trained Chinese private security guards and police before. The cost of the center is estimated at no less than 600 thousand dollars. Up to 8 thousand people will be able to pass through this educational institution annually. We see that the number of prospective cadets is quite impressive. But do not forget that today in different countries of the world there are hundreds of thousands of Chinese private security guards and simply mercenaries.
But the Xinjiang Uygur region was chosen to host the training center and not only for political reasons. Nearby are Afghanistan and Pakistan - two states of the Middle East, where the Celestial Empire has long had its own interests. China's military cooperation with Pakistan began in the 1970s and 1980s. The countries turned out to be regional allies, as they were united by the presence of a common enemy - India. In addition, the PRC for a long time was in bad relations with the Soviet Union, and Pakistan directly supported the Afghan mujahideen who fought against the Soviet army in Afghanistan.
Even then, close contacts were established between Beijing and Islamabad in the field of arms supplies. By the way, fearing to lose a valuable partner and ally, Pakistan has always tried to close its eyes to the oppression of Muslim Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. Islamabad has repeatedly stressed that it respects the territorial integrity of the PRC and considers any events taking place in this country to be Beijing's internal affair.
This position of Pakistan is not surprising. More and more economic interests are being added to the military-technical ties between China and Pakistan. In 2015, the Chinese company China Overseas Ports Holding entered into a 43-year lease agreement with the government of Pakistan for a plot of 152 hectares in the port of Gwadar on the shores of the Arabian Sea.
The port of Gwadar was not chosen by the Chinese company by chance - it is the final point of the economic corridor that connects Pakistan with China and passes through the territory of that very Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It is planned to deliver Iranian and Iraqi oil and other goods to the port of Gwadar, from where they will be transported to China itself.
Pakistan has never been a calm country, so any economic activity on its territory needs reliable protection. And China is well aware of this, as well as the fact that Pakistani government troops and, moreover, private security structures do not have much confidence. Accordingly, the Chinese are going to take over the problems of ensuring the security of the leased port. But Islamabad is categorically against the presence on the country's territory of foreign military, even Chinese. Therefore, Chinese private military companies will be engaged in the protection of the leased territory and the facilities built on it.
The One Belt - One Road project, which is one of the main strategic goals of modern China, requires a significant exertion of various forces and resources. And one of those resources is Chinese private military companies. Although Beijing is very reluctant to draw the world's attention to their activities, there is no escape from their existence. It is they who will ensure the protection of Chinese economic interests along almost the entire route of the "New Silk Road", about which Xi Jinping is so fond of talking.
