Living in container houses under the constant shadow of terrorism, Chinese diplomats in Somalia represent the extreme front line of a new, assertive era in Beijing’s foreign policy.
During a video call to staff at the Chinese embassy in Mogadishu, Foreign Minister Wang Yi laid bare the “complex and severe risks of terrorism”, using the situation in the war-torn nation as a stark reminder of why China was overhauling how it protected its citizens and interests overseas.
Wang recalled how, less than a year after the embassy’s reopening in 2014, it suffered a terrorist attack, resulting in the deaths and injuries of embassy staff. The embassy had been closed since 1991 over the Somali civil war.
The volatile situation in Somalia, which descended into lawlessness following the ousting of the military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, is a reality now found in many African countries.
For decades, Beijing has relied on host countries to guarantee the safety of its citizens or used emergency evacuations, such as those seen in Libya and Sudan.
