- China to train thousands of foreign law enforcement officials for global security
- Global Security Initiative (GSI) expands, focusing on developing countries
- Concerns over authoritarian tactics and focus on Chinese interests in Africa
According to the country’s Ministry of Public Security, China will train thousands of foreign law enforcement officials to help the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable, and efficient direction. “
We will also deploy police consultants to nations in need to conduct training to assist them in promptly and effectively improving their law enforcement skills, Minister Wang Xiaohong stated at an annual global security event.
Wang Xiaohong made the declaration on Monday in the eastern city of Lianyungang in front of law enforcement officials from 122 countries, regions, and international organizations, including Interpol.
The event is part of China’s ruling Communist party’s continued efforts to establish itself as a global security leader. In 2022, China’s leader, Xi Jinping, announced the Global Security Initiative (GSI), which aims to strengthen international security governance and promote peace.
Some human rights groups have expressed concern that recent training programs for African police officers use Communist party-style authoritarian tactics and are heavily focused on protecting Chinese commercial interests in those countries, which are frequently linked to China’s state-run foreign investment program, the Belt and Road Initiative.
Public accounts of Monday’s speech did not specify which officers or countries would receive the training or where it would take place.
Beijing has linked the GSI to its efforts to broker agreements between Iran and Saudi Arabia and to the drafting of a peace proposal for the Ukraine war. Analysts see it as a vehicle for reshaping the current world order headed by the United States.
The GSI concept involves a series of bilateral security and policing agreements signed with developing countries in recent years, mainly in Africa and the Indo-Pacific.
Last year, Beijing stated that the GSI aimed to promote increased collaboration between tertiary-level military and police academies. It was “willing to provide other developing countries with 5,000 training opportunities in the next five years to train professionals to address global security issues.”
The revelation on Monday shows that number is growing, with Wang stating that China has already educated 2,700 foreign law enforcement professionals in the last year.
Following a China-Africa meeting last week, Beijing declared that it would train 1,000 extra police officers for the African continent “and jointly ensure the safety of cooperation projects and personnel.” It was not immediately clear whether those 1,000 cops were among the 3,000 cited by Wang on Monday.
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Wang spoke at the China-Central Asia public security forum on Tuesday and met with senior officials from the five countries that attended. He stated that they had agreed to improve connections, including steps to “deepen law enforcement and security cooperation” and to “focus on the vision of universal security and enhance the ability of joint operations against terrorism and transnational crime.”
In July, Timor Leste’s president, Jose Ramos Horta, visited Beijing and signed a new partnership agreement with Xi, which included “enhanced exchanges at all levels between the military and police forces, strengthened cooperation in such areas as personnel training, equipment technology, the conduct of joint exercises and training, police affairs, and law enforcement.
In 2022, a deal with the Solomon Islands to increase collaboration with China on “law enforcement and security matters” raised concerns among the United States and other Western allies, particularly other Pacific nations. Following the Solomons accord, then-foreign minister Wang Yi attempted to negotiate a regional deal with over a dozen Pacific states but was turned down.
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