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Defiant China to expand presence in world hot spots
By Dan Martin
AFP
BEIJING
Petroleumworld.com 04 26 07China is taking risks as it plunges into some of the world's hot spots looking for natural resources, but observers say the Asian giant's presence in those places looks set to expand.
Tuesday's attack on a Chinese-run oil field in Ethiopia that left 77 people dead caused national outrage back home and concern for other compatriots in dangerous places, but there was no sense that China should withdraw.
"There is no way we would stay away from Africa due to the fear of risk," a spokesman for Sinopec, the state-run company that ran the Ethiopian oil field, said in remarks splashed on the front page of the China Daily newspaper.
"This is not a game for us. We will try to improve security in the future but there is no way we will withdraw from our projects there."
Nine Chinese workers were among the 77 people killed in Ethiopia's remote eastern Ogaden region, while another seven were kidnapped and remain missing, with separatist rebels claiming responsibility for the attack.
In the past three years, dozens of Chinese workers, engineers and other civilians have been killed or kidnapped in strife-torn regions of Nigeria, Kenya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere.
Even in areas with no major uprisings they have faced open hostility, such as in Zambia where Chinese President Hu Jintao was forced to cancel some public appearances during a visit in February because of planned protests.
Zambians reportedly wanted to vent their anger over the exploitation of local workers by Chinese firms and the plunder of the country's mineral resources.
Beijing also has been stung by criticism of its dealings with international pariah, but resource-rich, countries such as Sudan, Zimbabwe and Myanmar.
These developments will serve as an awakening for a country which has long considered itself on the side of the "little guy" around the globe, according to Denny Roy, a China specialist at the Asia-Pacific Centre for Security Studies in Honolulu.
"As China shifts from a regional to a global power, they are going to start realising the benefits and costs of that, and one of those is that it makes you a target," Roy said.
"The people targeted in Ethiopia were seen as powerful outside investors defying a particular group's ban on doing this type of business in their country. It might be a bit of a shock for some Chinese to be in that position now."
Nevertheless, Chinese experts and the government-run media all gave the impression on Thursday that China would maintain its strategy of going anywhere in the world for natural resources.
"The (Ethiopia attack) will not affect the cooperation between China and Africa, that's for sure," Wang Hongyi, a researcher with the China Institute of International Studies, told AFP.
However, he warned Beijing would need to use more of its growing leverage abroad to ensure its citizen's safety, reflecting a growing awareness in China that its workers overseas needed to be better protected.
"I think China will adopt measures to deal with such issues in the future; to strengthen communications with other governments for the security of Chinese citizens."
In an editorial Thursday, the China Daily noted China's foreign ministry had recently set up a new department to address growing security threats for Chinese overseas and said its work should be a high priority.
"As Chinese citizens move throughout the world, they are increasingly vulnerable. An affective system to minimise risks is essential," the paper said.
About one million Chinese nationals work or study abroad, with 7,000 companies from China investing overseas, according to state media.
AFP 26 0549 GMT 04 07
Copyright© 2007 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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