Sinocism Live: Beijing’s strategy to remake global security

Nov 20, 2025

Guest

Cameron Waltz

Guest

Isaac B. Kardon

Guest

Sheena Chestnut Greitens

In this engaging discussion, guests Sheena Chestnut Greitens, a scholar on Chinese security, Isaac B. Kardon, a commentator on security diplomacy, and Cameron Waltz, a researcher on police training, dive into China's expanding global police training footprint. They reveal that nearly 900 trainings have occurred across 138 countries since 2000, mostly targeting the Global South. The conversation explores the stark differences between U.S. and Chinese training methods, the motivations behind China's outreach, and whether this initiative signals an export of its governance model.

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INSIGHT

China's Police Training Scaled Globally

China has massively expanded police training abroad, turning internal security actors into foreign-policy tools.
The authors built a dataset showing hundreds of trainings across many countries since 2000.

INSIGHT

Most Training Happens Inside China

About 90% of foreign trainees travel to China to attend major national and provincial police academies.
Provinces built dedicated foreign training centers for regions like Central Asia and the Pacific.

ADVICE

Archive Sources Immediately

Archive open-source evidence immediately because Chinese sources frequently disappear.
Preserve web pages and documents to verify training claims and track activity over time.

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This is a recording of my November 20, 2025 discussion with Sheena Chestnut Greitens ( Sheena Chestnut Greitens), Isaac B. Kardon (CHINA: Threat or Menace on Substack), and Cameron Waltz about their excellent and important new paper China’s Foreign Police Training: A Global Footprint - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

I learned a lot from the paper and the conversation, and we had a good discussion at the end about whether or not China is using this security cooperation and training to export its governance model.

From the summary of the paper:

Global outreach by China’s internal security agencies is expanding. As China’s Global Security Initiative externalizes a concept of security focused on domestic stability and regime protection, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has increased its efforts to train and build capacity among foreign law enforcement and internal security forces around the world, including across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Foreign police training is one of the most concrete and measurable outcomes associated with the Global Security Initiative, as President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders have publicly committed to training thousands of foreign security officers in multiple high-profile appearances.

This paper examines China’s foreign police, security, and paramilitary training from 2000 to 2025. It draws on an original new dataset of nearly 900 trainings provided to at least 138 countries and places these trainings in the wider context of Chinese soft power, foreign policy objectives and projects such as the Global Security Initiative, broader patterns of Chinese security engagement, and Beijing’s narratives about China’s role as a global security provider.

You can read the whole paper here.

Earlier this year they published A New World Cop on the Beat? China’s Internal Security Outreach Under the Global Security Initiative.

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