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Kidnappings of workers in overseas projects put pressure on China

With China spreading its net wide and displaying its economic muscle, its companies and their workers are finding themselves regularly in the line of fire. And the inability of Beijing to mount rescue missions in the way the US does is creating anger against the government, if one goes by popular microblogs.

POREG View:  There are an estimated 5.5 million Chinese workers overseas. They are the new indentured labour sent to the world’s least hospitable places. The Chinese companies which are mostly state run are guided more by profit margins and less by local considerations. This picture comes out clearly in the New York Times despatch from Beijing. “China’s government, grappling with the kidnapping of a construction crew in Sudan, is facing heightened pressure over the safety of the country’s citizens abroad after a group of cement plant employees in Egypt was briefly abducted by Bedouin tribesmen on Tuesday”, the Beijing date-lined report says. The two abductions highlight the risks lurking on the profit margins.

The engineers and technicians seized in Egypt’s Sinai region were taken away by gunmen as they rode a bus to work. The assailants reportedly demanded the freedom of fellow tribesmen convicted in deadly bombings at the Red Sea resorts of Taba and Sharm- el- Sheik. According to Xinhua news agency, the abducted Chinese have since been released unharmed.

The fate of the missing road construction employees in Sudan remains uncertain thouggh. In fact, there are conflicting reports. One report said they have been released after ransom payment was made. The report was promptly denied by the Chinese officials. The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) has acknowledged that it is holding in all 29 Chinese men and women; the kidnapping took place last weekend in the oil-rich South Kordofan Province which is witnessing turf war between the North and South Sudans. The rebel group is aligned with the South Sudan.  Both sides are eying the South Kordofan oil revenue. The Chinese are mediating between the two nations, though not with much success so far.

Now there are two ways of looking at the emerging scene. One is that the SPLM-N wanted to put pressure on the Chinese and the Chinese workers became a pawn in the game. The other view can be that SPLM-N has indeed whisked them away to safety as they appeared to be in the direct line of fire between the North and South Sudan forces.

Beijing has since sent a crisis management team to Sudan to defuse the crisis. “China calls on all sides to remain calm and exercise restraint, ensure the safety of Chinese personnel and quickly release the Chinese personnel out of humanitarian concerns,” the Foreign Ministry said on its Web site.

Beijing has reasons to be unhappy with Khartoum because its military had claimed to have “liberated” 14 of the kidnapped workers even as their fate remained uncertain. Xie Hangsheng, the vice foreign minister, summoned Sudanese diplomat in Beijing to the foreign office and voiced his displeasure.

The abducted workers were part of a large contingent of Chinese who are engaged in building a road through the volatile South Kordofan region. For the Chinese the road is a vital link in transporting oil to the nearest seaport; the rebels aver that the road will facilitate the movement of troops.

It appears that another group of 18 Chinese workers, who were also engaged in the road project   managed to evade the rebels during the attack. It is possible that the Sudanese military claim referred to this group, who had survived gunfire by either hiding in mango groves or crawling under stationary shipping containers.  These workers have been brought to the conflict zone by the Chinese state-owned Power Construction Corporation of China, affiliated with the Sinohydro Corporation. Sinohydro is building the $63 million road and the project is financed by the Export-Import Bank of China.  

According to the New York Times, the SPLM-N secretary general, Yasir Arman and other leaders have since met with three Chinese diplomats and conveyed their conditions while cautioning against any ‘misadventure’. Arman said they had asked the Chinese delegation to convey to Khartoum that they should ‘stop any military operations’ in the area where the Chinese are present ‘until their safe evacuation’.

This is not the first instance of abduction of Chinese workers in South Kordofan itself. In 2008 five oil company workers were killed after they were abducted. Last October, a worker in South Kordofan was shot dead by unidentified gunmen.

With China spreading its net wide and displaying its economic muscle, its companies and their workers are finding themselves regularly in the line of fire. And the inability of Beijing to mount rescue missions in the way the US does is creating anger against the government, if one goes by popular microblogs.

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