The fighting between rebel forces and loyalists of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi isn't expected to have an impact on China's burgeoning economic links with Africa, but analysts say it serves as a reminder of the need for contingency plan when working in unstable or politically repressive countries where conditions can turn dramatically desperate.
Chasing opportunities where others fear to tread, Chinese businesses have long accepted such dangers, and the swift response in Libya is a sign of the new protections it is offering its citizens abroad.
While no Chinese have been reported killed or injured in Libya, Chinese businesses and construction sites have been looted and workers forced from their dormitories. Chinese companies, meanwhile, stand to lose financially from deals abruptly halted, including a half-finished public housing project being built by state-owned contractor China State Construction Engineering Corp. worth 17.6 billion yuan ($2.67 billion). The company says the project's future is uncertain.
"There is this argument that China can no longer continue to afford to pull back every time and that it should more actively safeguard the interests of its people and its companies," said Jonathan Holslag, a research fellow at the Institute for Contemporary China Studies at the University of Brussels.
Another state-run company, China Railway Construction Corp., said it was concerned over the fate of three separate projects worth a total of more than $4.2 billion, especially losses to equipment and building materials. Other Chinese engineering, telecommunications and energy companies also face losses, although it was unclear what the total figure would be, according to the authoritative China Business News newspaper.
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