PMCs (private military companies)

PMC Wagner

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Chronicle

2023: China decided to involve PMCs to protect interests abroad

On December 24, 2023, it became known that China began to actively attract private military companies (PMCs) to protect its economic and other interests in hostile and unstable regions abroad. It is noted, in particular, that the PRC is faced with the need to ensure security in regions such as West Asia, Africa and Latin America.

According to the South China Morning Post, by the end of 2023, approximately 47 thousand companies with Chinese capital operate around the world. These are primarily enterprises in the fields of power, mining, infrastructure construction and production. According to the report of the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China for 2022, the total staff of such companies reaches 4.1 million people, of which 2.5 million employees are foreign citizens.

China has begun to engage PMCs more actively to protect its interests in hostile and unstable regions abroad

China is the world's largest buyer of iron ore, copper, soybeans and many other goods, while more than 1 million Chinese students study abroad, and tens of millions of Chinese travel around the world every year. At the same time, Beijing's military presence abroad is limited. In such a situation, the PRC authorities are forced to resort to the services of PMCs.

It is noted that, unlike foreign private security companies, employees of Chinese PMCs abroad are prohibited from carrying firearms. Employees of such structures are mainly military personnel of elite units and police officers who are leaving for the reserve. Chinese PMCs specialize in cargo escort, countering low-altitude drones, ensuring the protection of facilities, etc. The demand for PMCs is partly growing because many Chinese projects are being implemented in some of the most dangerous regions of the world, for example, in the zone of oil fields in South Sudan.^[1]

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