Security firms to cash in protecting China’s ‘New Silk Road’
Thousands of Chinese workers are likely to be involved in infrastructure and industrial projects in Asia and beyond, creating lucrative contracts for security companies
Global security companies and their smaller Chinese rivals are jostling for business along Beijing’s modern-day “Silk Road”, the grandiose plan for land and sea routes connecting the world’s second largest economy with the rest of Asia and beyond.
Representing investments of hundreds of billions of dollars, the pet project of Chinese President Xi Jinping is seen boosting economic growth at home, and as positive for everything from steel prices to cement makers.
Security firms also expect to tap the rush, offering to protect thousands of Chinese workers - and the pipelines, roads, railways and power plants they build - as they fan out across the world under the “Belt and Road Initiative”.
It will not be easy, however, with executives warning that state-owned enterprises running or planning projects from Africa to Vietnam sometimes prefer to deal with fellow Chinese, treat safety as an afterthought and try to keep costs to a minimum.
“One Belt, One Road is a lifetime [of work] for us,” said John Jiang, managing director of Chinese Overseas Security Group.
The small consortium of security providers was set up early last year and operates in six countries: Pakistan, Turkey, Mozambique, Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand.