On the afternoon of Feb. 9, the 29 compatriots, who had been kidnapped for more than 10 days, arrived at the Beijing Capital International Airport. This successful overseas rescue showed the "China strength" once again.

From the Chinese navy's "convey in the Gulf of Aden" against pirates, to the "great withdrawal from Libya", which is regarded as the largest withdrawal since the Cold War, and to being the first country which withdrew its civilians in a large scale from Japan's area afflicted severely by the earthquake and tsunami, China has established an overseas security mechanism involving the central government, local governments, Chinese embassies and Chinese enterprises, giving the Chinese national overseas a strong backing. Since 2008, China has withdrawn more than 50,000 Chinese citizens from various emergencies that occurred in foreign countries.

However, China's "overseas security" still needs to further keep up with its "Going Global" pace. In the year of 2010, the total number of Chinese citizens exiting China was more than 60 million. By the year, the total number of Chinese enterprises operating in foreign countries had exceeded 16,000. After going abroad, they will face a completely different and complicated world. Furthermore, the destinations where Chinese labors are sent are usually countries and regions with fierce national and religious conflicts, frequent political and military turbulences and severe natural disasters.

Statistics from the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also show that in 2011 alone, relevant departments handled a total of approximately 30,000 consular protection cases. From the Chinese crew being shot on the Mekong River, to the engineers abducted in Afghanistan, frequent overseas security incidents cried out for overseas security efforts to be carried out before the event instead of afterwards.

However, some companies did not exert full play to their own advantages, nor did they carry out sufficient assessment on safety risks during the project investigation period. The safety education and safety protection work for the large group of labor dispatch workers are also utterly inadequate. In the face of the citizens' overseas security needs, the government especially needs to take the lead to weave a people-oriented, mutually beneficial, win-win "safety net".

In this regard, some developed countries have more mature experience. In Europe, many multinational companies keep a special international research institution, which can instantaneously monitor, assess, and respond to security risks of overseas investment.

Perhaps we cannot copy such practices, though. The national level investment on protecting the safety of overseas citizens is constantly growing. However, in the face of an ever-accelerating pace of "going out" by the Chinese citizens, the enterprises and individuals also need more broad-minded strategic thinking in foreign investment, more comprehensive understanding of regional situations, and more conscious awareness of self-protection. People also need to examine: In respect of hardware, in the framework of international law and counter-terrorism cooperation, can our security forces guarantee or realize rapid rescue response? In respect of software, can our existing relevant measures be upgraded into special legislation for consular protection? Especially, can the government further lead and improve the consummation of the business risks protection mechanism and safety prediction scheme, especially for the proper assessment on benefits and risks for investment purposes and to make overseas security "safety net" more solidly woven?

Overseas security issue concerns the safety of the citizens and the overseas development of the enterprises, and it relates to China's image on the international stage under the spotlight. China's development will inevitably push the footsteps of the Chinese people to extend to more places. This also makes it necessary to place the safety issue of overseas citizens on a more important position for research and presentation.