escobar
Brigadier
Sooner or later china would have to change his politic of non-interference and allow PLA to have base in foreign country.
29 Chinese taken hostage in the Sudan! What will China do?
- Thread starter bd popeye
- Start date
Sooner or later china would have to change his politic of non-interference and allow PLA to have base in foreign country.
Maggern
Junior Member
I think this is an important point. As foreigners, Chinese are more and more numerous in these areas. And unlike with the US and other westerners, they are not "high-profile"-targets, that could risk heavily armed SOFs to charge in. They are relatively unprotected.
Thus, I think unless as you say China puts more efforts into securing their citizens in high-risk areas, either by Chinese guards or by the local government, Chinese workers will provide and abundant and easy target for domestic political leverage.
Equation
Lieutenant General
I don't think it would be wise for China to send in PLA troops for workers security or even having a small military base for it. The workers can get private securities to do the work without the flag waving on foreign land, because any thing happens to the locals by the troops could trigger an out burst and resentment against China, therefore more political head aches.
Maggern
Junior Member
I'd say no on the first one there. First of all, China doesn't supply the UN with combat troops, only engineers and medical teams for peacekeeping missions. Secondly, UN troops are only deployed if the Security Council decides, where China usually say no to any controversial mission, and if it goes through, it's the international community demanding it, not China, and China follows because they have a stake in the UN, not in the target country.
escobar
Brigadier
There are hundreds of thousand chinese abroad. You can't protect all of them with SOF. I'am thinking rather to a
network of military bases in strategic point in the world. Then china could deploy them quickly to deal with such situation.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
And if China didn't provide any troops for UN peacekeeping missions, I imagine you would be criticising them for not pulling their weight in helping with world affairs.
Your suggestion of using Special Forces to guard ordinary civilians also speaks volumes about just how much you know about the nature and role of special forces.
How the situation unfolds in the South Sudan case will reveal whether the Chinese were simply caught in the crossfire or if they were ransom targets. If it's true that they were simply caught in the crossfire then it should not be an issue for a release to be arranged quickly. If a ransom is involved, regardless of whether it was premeditated or not, then it would take longer for them to be released due to all parties needing more time to reach agreement on how to resolve the situation, though all parties may still want to pretend that no ransom was involved.
In the Sinai case the Chinese may simply have been an easy target for the kidnappers to create trouble for the Egyptian government.
In both cases the best way forward for China is to request access to the hostages, ensure they are treated well and provide humanitarian support if needed, while negotiating a peaceful release (ransom or no ransom) and not get involved in other issues.
While giving the situations a reasonable amount of time to resolve peacefully, China can also prepare for a last resort plan of either using its own forces for direct action to free the hostages, or helping the local government forces do so.
In the Sinai case the Chinese may simply have been an easy target for the kidnappers to create trouble for the Egyptian government.
In both cases the best way forward for China is to request access to the hostages, ensure they are treated well and provide humanitarian support if needed, while negotiating a peaceful release (ransom or no ransom) and not get involved in other issues.
While giving the situations a reasonable amount of time to resolve peacefully, China can also prepare for a last resort plan of either using its own forces for direct action to free the hostages, or helping the local government forces do so.
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plawolf
Lieutenant General
Latest reports in China indicate that the Chinese workers in Sudan were attacked inside their compound, so so much for the 'crossfire' story.
The 17 'rescued' were never in rebel hands. They hid during the raid, and then called the Chinese embassy on their cell phones with their location. This was passed on to Sudanese military officals and they were able to locate and escort the 17 to safety.
Apart from the 29 captured and 17 who were rescued, 1 remains missing.
---------- Post added at 09:12 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:20 AM ----------
Seems like China's behind-the-scense diplomatic efforts have paid off in this case.
Let's hope a similar solution could be worked out for the captives in Sudan.
The 17 'rescued' were never in rebel hands. They hid during the raid, and then called the Chinese embassy on their cell phones with their location. This was passed on to Sudanese military officals and they were able to locate and escort the 17 to safety.
Apart from the 29 captured and 17 who were rescued, 1 remains missing.
---------- Post added at 09:12 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:20 AM ----------
Seems like China's behind-the-scense diplomatic efforts have paid off in this case.
Let's hope a similar solution could be worked out for the captives in Sudan.
aquauant
Junior Member
I read somewhere we have over millions (working, doing business, traveling, studying) Chinese nationals overseas. It is almost impossible even to keep track of the number.