Guarding economic interests abroad: FDI, political instability, and the proliferation of Chinese police training

Over the past two decades, China has expanded its police training programs to countries across and outside Asia. What drives the global diffusion of Chinese police training? Drawing on insights from International Political Economy (IPE) and security studies, this article argues that China’s overseas security engagement is shaped by the interaction between economic exposure and political risk in recipient countries. Specifically, as Chinese outward foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into politically unstable environments, the demand for capacity building in the police increases as a means of safeguarding economic interests. To test this argument, conceptualized as ‘security guards follow the capital,’ this study analyzes a global country-year dataset (2002–2019) using fixed effects and discrete-time event history models to examine both the annual occurrence and first-time adoption of Chinese police training. The results show that Chinese FDI is associated with a higher probability of police training, particularly in contexts of high political instability, further demonstrating that China’s provision of police capacity building is strategically directed toward countries where economic interests are exposed to higher political risks. This article contributes to the literature on IPE and international security by highlighting how security instruments are utilized to safeguard economic interests in China’s global engagement.