Chinese ‘Private Military Companies’ Now So Active in Central Asia that Many are Going Under Cover to Avoid Detection

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 29 – China has been deploying its so-called “private military companies” in Central Asia at least since 2016 to guard Chinese enterprises and related infrastructure there. (For background on these organizations, see jamestown.org/program/is-china-about-to-deploy-private-military-companies-in-central-asia/.)

            Some Central Asian countries have been alarmed by how widespread these “companies” are active and have adopted laws to limit their operations. But in response, a Kyrgyz news outlet says, the Chinese military companies are now using names that conceal their real functions (tazabek.kg/news:1798580).

            That tactic likely means that the Chinese presence across the region is far larger than many have reported, not only in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan where regulation of such institutions is limited but in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan where such groups are tightly regulated or even banned.