China should build a comprehensive national system to protect its growing overseas interests, including closer coordination between diplomatic, commercial, security and military authorities, according to an analysis published on a Chinese national security research account.
The analysis, posted last month by the Global Security Research social media account, called for Beijing to move beyond managing individual crises and place greater emphasis on prevention, international cooperation and efforts to reshape global rules. Its author was not identified. The account regularly publishes analysis on issues including nuclear security, supply chains and technological sovereignty.
“The primary task is to build a systematic, complete and highly coordinated overseas interests security protection system,” the analysis said. It called for responsibilities to be streamlined across “diplomacy, commerce, security and military departments to form a unified national approach”.
The analysis also urged Beijing to use diplomacy to influence international rules governing Chinese overseas activity. It called for China to “actively participate in global security governance and improve rule systems in the global investment, trade and maritime fields”. It recommended deeper security cooperation with countries where Chinese interests are concentrated, particularly partners in the Belt and Road Initiative, covering law enforcement, counterterrorism and transnational crime.
Joint mechanisms should also be established to protect Chinese companies and personnel operating overseas, it said.
The recommendations come as China’s international commercial presence continues to expand. Ministry of Commerce data cited in the analysis showed that more than 50,000 Chinese companies were operating overseas in 190 countries and regions by the end of last year. China’s cumulative outbound investment has remained among the world’s three largest for nine consecutive years, while outbound direct investment reached US$174.38 billion in 2025, up 7.1 per cent from the previous year.
The analysis said the risks facing those investments were becoming more complex. Alongside traditional and non-traditional security threats, Chinese companies faced legal compliance problems, unpredictable policy changes and foreign sanctions that could “interweave and amplify each other, making responses increasingly difficult”.
It also identified what it called the “growing politicisation” of Chinese investment. According to the analysis, some countries were using state power against foreign companies and invoking national security as a justification for protectionist measures. “Previously, going overseas mainly meant competing on cost and service,” it said. “Now you also have to guard against major powers flipping the table.”
The analysis cited the case of Panama taking control of two container ports on the Panama Canal after its Supreme Court annulled contracts held by Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings, declaring them unconstitutional. It said the decision followed pressure from US President Donald Trump.
Chinese interests have also encountered restrictions in other sectors. The analysis pointed to Indonesia’s 2020 ban on raw nickel exports, which required foreign companies to process the metal domestically, and subsequent difficulties for Chinese investors following production quota cuts and foreign exchange controls. Chinese mining operations have faced political and legal challenges in Latin America and Africa, while submarine cable projects have encountered national security objections.
The analysis warned that China’s exposure extended to global shipping routes and supply chains. It said disruption at key chokepoints such as the Strait of Hormuz or Strait of Malacca could affect China’s economic stability, while critical components, raw materials and production were increasingly dispersed across countries.
It called for big data, artificial intelligence and satellite remote sensing to be used to establish a global risk monitoring and early-warning platform capable of tracking “global hotspots, key projects and critical corridors”.
