Mercenaries of the Middle Kingdom. How do private military companies in China

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China today is one of the three leading world powers. At the same time, the policy of non-interference, which Beijing has been adhering to over the past decades, cannot but evoke a certain respect. Indeed, unlike not only the United States, Britain or France, but also from Russia, China prefers not to intervene in military conflicts abroad.

The wise and balanced policy of the Chinese leadership in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. allowed the country to make a huge economic breakthrough. But behind economic success, political ambitions inevitably come. In addition, the exacerbation of the political situation in the modern world makes all countries with more or less serious interests and positions “clench their fists” to protect them. And China is no exception.



Until recently, China has refrained from creating military bases outside the country, although, what to say, has long received both political, financial and economic, and military-technical capabilities for this. But the growing activity of Chinese companies, including in such troubled regions as the Middle East and East Africa, made Beijing take a different look at the prospects for its military presence in different parts of the world.

Mercenaries of the Middle Kingdom. How do private military companies in China


First, 1 August 2017, China finally got its own foreign military base. And, surprisingly, it did not appear in Zimbabwe or Myanmar, not in Sudan or Cuba, but in Djibouti, a small and very “politically quiet” state of the Horn of Africa. Interestingly, the French, Americans, Spaniards and even the Japanese are already quartered in Djibouti. Now it's China's turn. A logistics center for the Chinese Navy opened in Djibouti.

Formally, Beijing opened a PMTO to help its warships fight against pirates. But, considering that it is planned to increase the personnel stationed in Djibouti to 2 thousand military personnel, 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 as the provision of the activities of the Chinese military fleet in this part of the Indian Ocean, the protection of Chinese economic interests. It is no secret that in Kenya, and in Mozambique, and in other countries of the East African coast, China has its own economic interests. And where is the economy, there is politics and the armed forces.

Secondly, in recent years, China has been actively using such a modern instrument of military-political presence as private military companies. To protect the economic interests of China in Africa and Asia mobilized hundreds of thousands of employees of private military companies. Chinese PMCs are not as famous as American or British ones, but this does not negate the fact of their existence.

Mercenaries from China protect Chinese industrial facilities in various countries around the world. Given that in China, all large businesses are under the total control of the state, private military companies act with the knowledge and support of the official Chinese authorities. Although formally the latter, of course, in every possible way repudiate them. By the way, the Chinese private military companies were somewhat delayed with access to the international arena. When American and British private military companies had long been present in the global market for security services, no one yet knew about the existence of Chinese PMCs. They debuted at the start of the 2000s, but they reached a more or less serious level by the 2010s.



The main task of the Chinese PMCs then and now is the protection of Chinese facilities and Chinese citizens outside China, primarily in the “problem” 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 who work for them. Naturally, occasionally there are excesses associated with attacks, hostage-taking, abductions. To prevent them, Chinese companies and hire private military structures.

At present, Chinese private military companies operate in “hot spots” countries of Iraq and Afghanistan, provide security for Chinese enterprises and other facilities in Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia and many other countries of the African continent. I must say, they are doing quite well with their work. For example, in July, 2016 in South Sudan again started riots. 330 Chinese citizens who were in the country were threatened with death. They came to the aid of the security company DeWe Security, whose specialists, despite the absence of weapons, were able to save Chinese citizens and evacuate them to Kenya.

Chinese private military companies are known far less than their American or even Russian counterparts. Nevertheless, some firms should be listed, since their activities have long become very ambitious. First of all, it is Shandong Huawei Security Group. The private security company, which has been operating since 2010, invites the work of former servicemen of special forces of the army and police of the PRC.



Considering that in China the population oversupply and for those entering the service in the power structures there are very strict selection criteria, there is no doubt that the company's personnel is prepared. Moreover, PMCs work in Afghanistan and Iraq, fulfilling the tasks of protecting the facilities of Chinese oil and construction companies. And sometimes Chinese guards have to work without weaponsbecause the ban on wearing it 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 do have to really act without weapons.

Businessmen from China 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.

Secondly, European and American private military companies have always offered more expensive services than their Chinese counterparts.

Thirdly, the quality of training Chinese specialists is really not inferior to American or European fighters.

Nevertheless, foreigners are actively involved in the activities of the Chinese PMCs themselves. There is such a person Eric Prince, who once created the famous Blackwater company. A former American officer, Eric Prins was educated at the US Naval Academy and served in the Navy special forces, until he retired and engaged in a private security business. The fighters of the Blackwater company created by him participated in combat operations in Afghanistan, trained the Iraqi army and police personnel, guarded American commercial facilities in the “hot spots” of the Middle East, and trained special forces of the Azerbaijani naval forces. There were even special contracts with the US military department on the supply of equipment and participation in the fight against terrorists.

It was precisely as a contractor for the US Department of Defense that Prince’s company participated in the Iraq war and, after its completion, performed a fairly wide range of tasks in Iraqi territory. Now, Eric Prince has shifted to China, which is quite strange, given Prince’s close ties with the 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 modern security and military business.

The Guardian reports that Eric Prince recently signed an agreement with the government of the PRC. Its new structure, Frontier Services Group (FSG), according to 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 Uygur city, one of the “pearls” of Eastern Turkestan, as the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was formerly called, was chosen to host the training center not by chance. The region is problematic, there is a growing activity of religious fundamentalists and terrorists, many of whom have already managed to get real combat experience in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The global Muslim community accuses China of violating the rights of the Uyghur population, but Beijing is not going to listen to someone else’s opinion when it comes to its own political interests.

The training center in Kashgar is planning to train employees of China’s private military companies, security specialists of Chinese commercial companies, police officers and special forces of the People’s Liberation Army of China. By the way, Prince’s company has previously trained Chinese private security guards and police officers. The cost of the center is estimated at no less than 600 thousand dollars. Every year, up to 8 thousands of people can go through this school. 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 just mercenaries.

But Xinjiang Uygur district 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 Middle Kingdom has long had its own interests. China’s military cooperation with Pakistan began in the 1970-1980-s. The countries turned out to be regional allies, as they were united by the existence 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 on the territory of Afghanistan.

Even then, close contacts between Beijing and Islamabad began 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 Uygur Muslims in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. Islamabad has repeatedly stressed that he respects the territorial integrity of the PRC and considers any events taking place in this country to be an internal affair of Beijing.

Pakistan’s position is not surprising. More and more new economic interests are added to the military-technical relations between China and Pakistan. In 2015, the Chinese company China Overseas Ports Holding entered into an agreement with the Government of Pakistan to rent a plot of 43 hectares in the port of Gwadar for the Arabian Sea for the term of 152.

The port of Gwadar was chosen by the Chinese company not by chance - it is the final destination 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 the Celestial Empire.

Pakistan has never been a calm country, so any economic activity in its territory needs reliable protection. And this is well understood in China, as it is understood that the Pakistani government forces and, especially, private security agencies do not have much confidence. Accordingly, the Chinese are going to take over the security problems of the leased port. But Islamabad is categorically against the presence on the territory of the country of foreign military, even Chinese. Therefore, the protection of the leased area and facilities built on it will be handled by Chinese private military companies.

The project “One Belt - One Way”, which is one of the main strategic goals of modern China, requires a considerable effort of various forces and resources. And one of these resources is Chinese private military companies. Although Beijing does not want to attract the attention of the world community to their activities, one cannot escape from their existence. They will ensure the protection of Chinese economic interests in almost the entire route of the “new silk road” that Xi Jinping likes to talk about.
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  1. +2
    7 February 2019 15: 26
    Great news. Each bourgeois in a small army. What statehood can be spoken about after that? No matter where. Russia, America, China. Then whatever Mugabe is on the right track. His PMC tells the state which way to go. We are sliding into Africa. We knew this, we see it, soon all of us without quotes will be white negroes for different clans, different states. What is not the vertical of power in a single country?
  2. 0
    7 February 2019 15: 26
    The wise and balanced policy of the Chinese leadership in the late XX - early XXI centuries. allowed the country to make a huge economic breakthrough.

    And why, then, was the "Tiananmen Square massacre"?
    Maybe you should consider the events around Damansky Island?
    It was after the events around the border between the USSR and the PRC that the Americans began to consider the PRC capable of dialogue with the capitalist countries!
    1. +4
      7 February 2019 16: 34
      Quote: hohol95
      And why, then, was the "Tiananmen Square massacre"?
      That's due to the fact that the horses were crushed by tanks in China and became what it is.
      Quote: hohol95
      It was after the events around the border between the USSR and the PRC that the Americans began to consider the PRC capable of dialogue with the capitalist countries!
      And this they did.
      1. 0
        7 February 2019 16: 38
        Good! Do you personally live in China, lived, or WORK?
        1. +3
          7 February 2019 16: 39
          Quote: hohol95
          Do you personally live in China, lived, or WORK?

          Have you personally been to Tiananmen Square in 1989?
          1. +1
            7 February 2019 16: 43
            NEWS IN 1989 WATCHED!
            East is a delicate matter! I do not reproach the leaders of the PRC for anything! China has lived and will live for many more years! Our "liberals" should learn a lot from them! AND TO THE AUTHORITIES! But THEY and WE will still be different!
            The main thing is that neither YOU, nor ME should have to go to the bayonet against the UNCS from China ...
            1. +5
              7 February 2019 21: 48
              Yanukovych and Co. did not go to the bayonet. As a result, tens of thousands of dead and wounded, 4 years of war (and no end is visible), and so on.
              It's easy to broadcast "my hut is on the edge" from the sofa, it's easier than making a difficult, but right decision
            2. -1
              April 3 2019 01: 43
              For me it’s better to let them capture us (with minimal losses) and manage as they manage — by shooting bribe-takers and presumptuous bureaucrats with confiscation than the Jewish yoke and the Russian people will continue to bear (all these Abramovichs, Rotenbergs and other oligarchs pulling from the poor are the last juices)
  3. +1
    7 February 2019 15: 52
    When Russia started the Syrian company, there was information that China was ready to support. I also thought that the Chinese need to gain combat experience, they can agree, at least send their special forces. But really, while China refrains from fighting abroad.
    1. +1
      7 February 2019 19: 41
      In private conversations, our specialists said that parts of the Special Forces of the People's Republic of China could participate in the fight against Ishil in Syria precisely with immigrants from Suar
  4. -2
    7 February 2019 17: 06
    On the issue of creating PMCs, we are lagging behind.
  5. -1
    8 February 2019 23: 57
    So much for the party’s leading role,
    Party membership for mercenaries is not a hindrance. :-)
    And here we are, reasoning, ,, discussing, about the moral side of things.
    You need to protect the interests of the state and business! And do not lure the snot into a fist in order to later complain that we, "were cruelly deceived."
  6. -1
    April 3 2019 01: 40
    Skrinte - time will pass and the Chinese PMCs on the Far East will host
  7. 0
    April 7 2019 12: 42
    The article is completely empty and does not correspond to the heading "How China's private military companies work." The author clearly lacks knowledge on the topic, heaps of information about anything, including a little about Chinese PMCs.

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