Beijing has been urged to do more to protect its overseas interests with a call for diplomatic engagement to reshape international rules and deeper security cooperation with other countries.

As China’s expanding global footprint comes under pressure from geopolitics and restrictions from the West, a Chinese analysis posted on the Global Security Research social media account has called for a major shift in strategy.

The author was not identified, but the account regularly posts analysis and commentary on Chinese national security ranging from nuclear issues to supply chains and technological sovereignty.

It called for Beijing to move beyond crisis management and focus instead on prevention and cooperation when it comes to the country’s interests abroad.

“The primary task is to build a systematic, complete and highly coordinated overseas interests security protection system,” said the analysis, which was posted last month.

To do that would require “streamlining responsibilities across diplomacy, commerce, security and military departments to form a unified national approach”, according to the analysis.

It highlighted the need to reshape international rules through diplomatic engagement, urging Beijing to “actively participate in global security governance and improve rule systems in the global investment, trade and maritime fields”.

The analysis also called on Beijing to deepen security cooperation with countries where China has interests – particularly Belt and Road Initiative partners – including on law enforcement, counterterrorism and transnational crime. It said joint working mechanisms should be set up to protect Chinese companies and personnel on the ground.

By the end of last year, more than 50,000 Chinese companies were operating overseas across 190 countries and regions, according to Ministry of Commerce data.

The ministry data showed that China’s cumulative outbound investment has remained in the global top three for the past nine years. Outbound direct investment totalled US$174.38 billion in 2025 – a 7.1 per cent increase from a year earlier.

But as China’s overseas investment has increased, new dangers have emerged beyond the traditional and non-traditional security risks, according to the analysis. They include legal compliance risks, unpredictable policy changes and foreign sanctions, all of which “interweave and amplify each other, making responses increasingly difficult”.

It said “growing politicisation” of Chinese investment was also a concern for Beijing. The analysis said some countries used state power to suppress foreign enterprises and that national security was used as a pretext for protectionism, in an indirect reference to the United States.

“Previously, going overseas mainly meant competing on cost and service,” it said. “Now you also have to guard against major powers flipping the table.”It comes as Chinese state-owned and private entities increasingly face foreign curbs ranging from export controls to investment screening and financial sanctions targeting Chinese enterprises globally.

In a case earlier this year, Panama took control of two container ports on the Panama Canal after its Supreme Court annulled contracts that had allowed Hong Kong firm CK Hutchison Holdings to run them, calling them “unconstitutional”. The ruling came after pressure from US President Donald Trump.

Beijing has sought to strengthen its legal arsenal to protect its interests overseas, most notably through its 2021 Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law which enables authorities to penalise entities that enforce measures deemed harmful to Chinese sovereignty.

Resource nationalism has also been an obstacle for Chinese mining investors. For instance, Indonesia’s 2020 ban on raw nickel exports forced foreign companies to process the metal onshore. That prompted Chinese investors to start scaling back their operations earlier this year and threatening to withdraw from the Indonesian nickel industry due to production quota cuts and foreign exchange controls.

Chinese mining operations face political and legal challenges across Latin America and Africa, while undersea cable projects have encountered resistance on national security grounds in multiple regions.

The US Federal Communications Commission enforces a presumption of denial for cable-landing licences linked to foreign adversaries, effectively blocking Chinese firms from connecting submarine cables to US territory.

The Pacific Light Cable Network – originally planned to link Hong Kong with Los Angeles – had its Hong Kong segment dropped entirely.

China’s vulnerability along key maritime routes was also highlighted in the analysis, which argued that the security of shipping lanes was critical to energy and mineral imports as well as supply chains.

“As Chinese supply chains have globalised, critical components, raw materials and production are now scattered globally,” it said, adding that they were exposed to geopolitical conflict, logistics disruptions and deliberate supply chain ruptures.

The analysis warned that disruption at chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz or the Strait of Malacca could affect China’s economic stability.

“We must strengthen technological support using big data, artificial intelligence and satellite remote sensing to build a global risk monitoring and early warning platform,” it said.

“This will enhance risk identification, assessment and warning capabilities, enabling dynamic monitoring of global hotspots, key projects and critical corridors.”