Over the past 15 years, the Chinese private security industry has modernized the services offered to clients, who remain mostly Chinese. Until 2014, these firms were all funded and manned by Chinese nationals. The emergence of Frontier Services Group (FSG) has seen a radical change. Headed by Erik Prince, a former Navy SEAL and founder of Blackwater, this Hong Kong-based company is the first Chinese-funded, American-operated private security group. The organization, previously known as DVN (Holdings) Limited, was originally an aviation and logistics company providing additional security and training services. Its corporate structure is unique in China. Many of its senior management, including Prince as chairman, are non-Chinese – specifically retired American military specialists. With Chinese backing, Prince stated that he could ‘pursue [his] vision for Africa and globally in a transparent manner and with the most respected partners’. Indeed, many of his firm’s clients are Chinese private companies or state-owned enterprises with interests in infrastructure, oil and gas, and mining in Africa.
This is an interesting development when you consider that the Chinese Communist Party struggles to make sure their security power is loyal to the party rather than to even China--let alone to a private entity.
Are these Chiense private security entities an alternative to Chinese military power in a version of Britain's East India Company military power or the wedge to transition to Chinese security forces--whether by plan or because of an incident that involves company troops killing local civilians that provide a local and Chinese excuse to replace the private security companies with Chinese units?
And of course the involvement of Prince in the Chinese efforts highlights why I've been firmly against subcontracting the Afghan campaign to a private security contractor (mercenary) company even if using them for support is often beneficial (and a trend reaching back to historical practice). How do you make sure a company is loyal to America rather than their bottom line?
I discuss a lot of that trend in this older short monograph (and only 99 cents!).
