Foreign Policy posted on 30 March 2023 a commentary titled "Beijing Doesn't Know Who to Blame for Gold Mine Murders" by Arthur Kaufman, an editor at China Digital Times.
On 19 March, a group of armed men attacked a gold mine operation in the Central African Republic (CAR), killing nine Chinese citizens and injuring two more. It remains unclear who perpetrated the crime. The CAR government blamed the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC), an alliance of rebel groups hostile to the government. The CPC denied any involvement and claimed the attack was conducted by the Wagner Group, Russian mercenaries backing the central government. This attack in the CAR is part of a broader pattern of violence against Chinese citizens in the country.
