More govt, corporate effort urged to protect Chinese citizens overseas
From Iraq to Libya, from the Philippines to Vietnam, China's growing commercial interestsand the increasing demands of its citizens traveling abroad highlight the urgency to boostconsular services, a meeting on the issue heard on Tuesday.
Diplomats and specialists at a seminar in Beijing called for greater investment and clearlegislation, among other approaches, rather than solely depending on the Foreign Ministryto protect overseas Chinese.
The seminar was held against the backdrop of high-profile evacuations of Chinese citizensfrom places facing civil strife, including transporting nearly 4,000 people from Vietnam inMay and more than 1,200 from Iraq in June.
The limited number of consular officials can hardly meet the soaring needs of overseasChinese as global links deepen, Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jianchao said at the seminar.
People from the mainland made 98.2 million trips overseas in 2013, Liu said. More than20,000 Chinese enterprises are operating and are present in almost every country, andmore than 6.9 million Chinese workers in various fields have been sent overseas.
However, there are fewer than 500 diplomats providing consular protection in China'sembassies and consulates abroad. When all those who travel overseas are taken intoaccount, each diplomat would have to be responsible for the welfare of nearly 200,000overseas Chinese each year.
In the United States there is one consular diplomat for every 6,000 overseas citizens,while in Japan, it is one for every 12,000.
Beijing plans to set up a global emergency 24/7 call center by the end of this year. TheForeign Ministry established a center for consular services in 2007. The first messageChinese mobile users usually receive from the center after they land in any country is areminder of cultural differences and the embassy contact details.
Yang Mingjie, deputy chief of the China Institutes of Contemporary InternationalRelations, said legislation should be introduced to require companies to conduct sufficientrisk estimation before investing in any country and give one agency, such as the ForeignMinistry, a clear and leading role in providing a more-comprehensive range of consularservices.
"One agency is far from enough to shoulder the huge task. ... Commercial insurance,consultative bodies and foreign countries' security forces can also play a bigger role," hesaid.
Wang Tiebin, who works for the foreign affairs section of China Petrochemical ChinaPetrochemical Corporation, said overseas enterprises must consider shouldering moresecurity as the surge in the number of people going overseas continues.
Around 20 percent of the State-owned company's businesses are in countries and regionswith security concerns. The company has been strengthening security training foremployees working abroad and hiring professionals to provide security services, he said.
