On January 28, a Chinese-run road construction site in South Kordofan State, Sudan, was attacked by local rebels. Twenty-nine workers were kidnapped in the assault, and held until February 7 when their captors freed them. Incidents similar to this one around Africa have increased in recent years, prompting a belief that security for Chinese nationals and enterprises in foreign countries is worsening. But Qu Xing, head of the China Institute of International Studies, does not agree. His thoughts are as follows:

These incidents of Chinese people being attacked are mostly happening in areas already typified by unrest. In recent years, China has begun to play a more important role on the world's stage. The number of Chinese going abroad and Chinese companies engaging in international cooperation projects is growing. In keeping with this increase, the incidents seem to have surged. But if we compare these incident rates with the number of the Chinese going abroad, their probability is actually lower than in the years before China's opening-up policy took hold in the late 1970s. Over 50 million Chinese travel overseas annually. The rates of incidence are still small in comparison to this figure.

Why then are Chinese workers facing increased risk of being attacked overseas? Most of the projects involving Chinese companies are in developing countries. China attaches great importance to cooperation between developing countries. However, some of these countries have, along with relatively low levels of economic development, incomplete legal systems. In places where social stratification and political instability are common, Chinese people may fall victim to pre-existing conflicts and violence.

Take Sudan as an example. It's still hard to tell whether the January incident was grounded in political or economic motivations, but we can have a look at its background. After South Sudan separated from the North last year, economic and social problems plagued both sides. Sixty percent of the region's oil resources are in the south, while most oil pipelines and generating facilities are in the north. With this broken industry chain and weak development afflicting the two new countries, social discord intertwined with strained relations between south and north to trigger latent conflicts. 

For many years, Chinese enterprises have worked in the field of infrastructure construction and energy, playing an important part in not only social reconstruction and national economy, but in people's daily lives as well. While Western countries wanted to see regime change in Sudan, they were also busy imposing sanctions on the country. China insists on non-interference in other countries' internal affairs, a policy that won approval from the Sudanese. If the January attack was political in nature, it might be because these rebels hoped to achieve their political ends by abducting Chinese nationals, or to directly push the Chinese Government to shift its ground on some issues. These kinds of motivations are typical when it comes to involving Chinese nationals in African conflicts.

But the abduction could have simply been about money. Generally speaking, there's no correlation between incidents like this one and the assertion that Chinese companies and people face a more dangerous environment overseas. The probability of attack is higher in areas of unrest, and Chinese enterprises should take this into account when making the decision to invest. Regardless, the Chinese are not at any more risk than investors from other countries. 

Chinese Government has set up an inter-ministerial emergency response operation to protect the lives of Chinese nationals abroad. Once an incident happens, Chinese embassies will contact a host country's diplomats, military and police. They also have special funds for renting vehicles and emergency medical care. But ultimately, overseas security for Chinese nationals is about awareness. It's important for enterprises overseas to keep good relations with local governments and citizenry in case attacks do happen. These relationships will be what help improve the security for Chinese nationals abroad.