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Mottled brick wall. Hostages clutching their passports. Masked gunmen. Such images have been frequently aired from Iraq in the wake of the removal of Saddam Hussein from power by a coalition led by the United States and Britain in 2003.
On a videotape shown by the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera TV channel on January 18, the hostages were from China, a country that has recently given economic assistance worth $1 million to Iraq. The eight hostages, aged between 18 and 40, were identified as residents of Pingtan County, Fujian.
An insurgent group calling itself the Islamic Resistance Movement, AI-Numan Brigade, threatened to "kill the eight within 48 hours" unless China met its demand of banning Chinese from entering Iraq.
At a press conference in Beijing on January 20, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Kong Quan said the Chinese Government had the fundamental interests of the Iraqi people in mind while dealing with the Iraq issue.
"The Chinese people have always cherished friendly feelings toward the Iraqi people and sympathised with and supported them," Kong continued, noting the eight kidnapped people were ordinary Chinese citizens who travelled to Iraq for jobs. After failing to find any, they rented a car to leave Iraq but were kidnapped en route, he said.
On the same day, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing made a telephone call to the Chinese Ambassador to Iraq, Yang Honglin, asking Yang and all embassy staff to make efforts for the release of the hostages as soon as possible.
"Various armed forces and extremist organisations in Iraq will surely create troubles as the Iraqi general election is drawing near, such as kidnapping, military attacks and car bombings. Actually, the kidnapping this time was not specially targeted at Chinese," said Song Xiaojun, an expert on Middle East issues.
In just three days, from January 18 to 20, at least four kidnappings, involving 16 foreigners, occurred in Iraq. Song said this period of time saw the third surge in kidnappings in the war-battered country after April and July last year.
Following joint efforts of the Chinese Government and the international community, the captors released the eight hostages on January 22. A videotape aired by alArabiya said the Al-Numan Brigade had decided to release the Chinese as a gesture of goodwill, given the friendship between Iraq and China.
People-Oriented Diplomacy: This was not the first time Chinese had been abducted in Iraq. Last April, seven Chinese workers, also from Pingtan, were kidnapped near Fallujah. Following the efforts of the Chinese Government and the Iraqi Muslim Clerics Association, the hostages were released safely. Shortly after, a representative from a Chinese company was detained by militants but was set free after being identified as a Chinese.
Even outside the war-torn country, 2004 saw a series of attacks on, and kidnappings of, overseas Chinese. On June 10, more than 20 gunmen attacked a camp of Chinese construction workers in Afghanistan, killing two guards and 11 Chinese. On October 9, two Chinese engineers in Pakistan were kidnapped by five gunmen on their way to work. After negotiations to free the hostages peacefully failed, the Pakistani Government resorted to military action. Only one Chinese engineer could be rescued, while the other detains was killed in the resulting shoot-out with the abductors.
In the new international environment, China's diplomatic policy has undergone significant changes. International observers say China's diplomacy is changing from "diplomacy for the state" to "diplomacy for the people."
"China's diplomatic stress has transferred from purely handling affairs between governments to enhancing the maintenance of overseas Chinese people's interests," said Jin, acknowledging this as a natural result of China's social development.
On August 28, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, ratified China's accedence to the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel, which came into force in January 1999. This indicters that China is accelerating its legislative processes to protect the rapidly growing numbers of Chinese going abroad.
China's measures of protecting its people living and working abroad are frequently adjusted with efficiency at the core, according to Luo Tianguang, Director General of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Foreign Ministry.
South Africa saw many attacks on Chinese in 2004, with about 20 being killed. At a time when the Chinese there felt vulnerable, Foreign Minister Li dispatched Luo as his special representative to the country on September 1-4, to talk about detailed measures to protect the legal rights and interests of the Chinese. Luo also met the Chinese nationals and conveyed the government's concern.
Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Shen Guofang explained his ministry required that senior officials of Chinese embassies, right up to the ambassadors, be responsible for consular protection. "Consular protection is a key factor in the year-end assessment of an ambassador's work," Shen said.
Quick Response: The emergency response system played a key role in the quick rescue of the Chinese hostages in Iraq.
"China's Foreign Ministry adopted a series of measures to handle the frequent cases involving consular protection after summing up its experiences and lessons over the past decades and successful experiences from other countries," Director General Luo noted. He said last year's performance had shown the system to be workable and efficient.
As soon as it becomes aware of the need for consular protection, the Chinese Foreign Ministry will first analyse the situation and then activate the system in the case human lives or grave economic losses are involved, using methods as appropriate. The steps to this process include the setting up of an emergency response group, devising working plans, determining the communication channels, opening up telephone hotlines and coordinating domestic and international efforts.
The ministry itself has a group trained to deal with emergency cases. It has also established a department specially tasked with the security of overseas Chinese and has improved the transparency of its work.
— Beijing Review
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