Safety of Chinese nationals overseas in the spotlight

Four Chinese nationals were among the victims in two separate terrorist incidents overseas last week. Their deaths highlight the increasing threat terrorism poses to the personnel safety of Chinese citizens traveling abroad.

On Friday, three Chinese nationals were among the 27 people killed in the terrorist assault on the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, the Malian capital. The three Chinese victims were all senior executives of China Railway Construction Corporation, and they were in Bamako to discuss a project with Mali's transport ministry.

A day earlier, the Islamic State extremist group declared it had killed both a Chinese and a Norwegian hostage, and China's foreign ministry confirmed the death of Fan Jinghui, a Chinese citizen who went missing in the Middle East region earlier this year.