UN peacekeeping and Chinese Private Security Companies: assessing demand factors for China

Abstract

ABSTRACT Using China’s UN peacekeeping as a foil, the article explores the demand factors that inform the usage of Chinese Private Security Companies (PSCs) to protect Chinese economic interests and nationals abroad. The article makes three assertions. First, compared to Chinese peacekeepers, PSCs can offer a more focused and responsive presence overseas, a presence that is increasingly demanded by the Chinese leadership and citizenry. Second, Chinese PSCs can provide a less prominent footprint for when Chinese agendas and approaches, despite the desire to maintain a policy of non-interference, inevitably clash with local political dynamics and actors. Third, when considering Chinese peacekeepers that increasingly face the pressure to apply lethal violence, Chinese policy regarding the PSC employment of firearms constrains more robust PSC responses to security challenges that might further inflame sensitive matters regarding non-interference.