Protecting the New Silk Road

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) launched by President Xi Jinping in 2013, which is intended to promote economic development and exchanges between China and more than 60 countries, is gaining momentum. The BRI is not immune, however, to a number of important risks that in many instances are new to Chinese companies operating abroad. One oversight that must be addressed is that the BRI requires a wide range of security considerations along both the maritime and land routes. While the security problem has not gone unnoticed in Beijing, the solutions could be found elsewhere, namely in international companies that provide armed private security, special risk assessment, insurance and, perhaps most importantly, crisis mitigation.