By connecting regions, Chinese investment projects overseas have made it easier for transnational Chinese criminal syndicates to carry out illicit activities abroad. These syndicates either associate themselves with Chinese state-backed special economic zones (SEZs) or fabricate SEZs themselves. China’s response to the damage to its interests, specifically the security of its borders and citizens and its international reputation, has varied. It has intervened in some instances but not others. The types of intervention also vary. Under what conditions will Beijing intervene and what explains the variation? Focusing on four case studies in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos, we demonstrate that Beijing intervenes when its interests are significantly impacted, but the way it intervenes depends on the cooperation of actors, both state and non-state, within host countries. Our study contributes to the understanding of Chinese security interventions and influence abroad, and the conditions that modify its interventions.

Selina Ho is Associate Professor in International Affairs and Co-Director of the Centre on Asia and Globalisation, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. She researches Chinese politics and foreign policy. Specifically, she is interested in how China wields power and influence via infrastructure and water disputes in Southeast Asia and South Asia. Her work stands at the intersection of comparative politics and international relations. Selina is the author of Thirsty Cities: Social Contracts and Public Goods Provision in China and India (Cambridge University Press, 2019), co-author of Rivers of Iron: Railroads and Chinese Power in Southeast Asia (University of California Press, 2020), and co-editor of The Routledge Handbook of China-India Relations (2020). She has published widely in peer-reviewed journals, including International Affairs, Chinese Journal of International Politics, Journal of Contemporary China, among others. Selina is also a Council Member of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. From September 2017 to September 2018, she was a Global Futures Council Fellow with the World Economic Forum. Selina received her Ph.D. from The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University.