GLOBAL SECURITY INITIATIVE

China Offers A Solution To Widespread Security Deficit

    Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed for the first time a Global Security Initiative at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2022. He outlined a six-point proposal for global security, which broadly confirms China's stand on Russia's war against Ukraine to protect what Moscow states its security interests against Kyiv joining the NATO alliance.

    The Global Security Initiative champions commitments in six areas, that is, to stay committed to the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security; stay committed to respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries; stay committed to abiding by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter; stay committed to peacefully resolving differences and disputes between countries through dialogue and consultation; stay committed to maintaining security in both traditional and non-traditional domains. The initiative defends the vision of a common, global, cooperative, and sustainable security, all countries' sovereignty and territorial integrity respect, compliance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, the use of dialogue and consultation to resolve differences and disputes between countries as well as security's preservation in both traditional and non-traditional domains.

    China has been critical of the US' Indo-Pacific strategy to assert the freedom of navigation opposing Beijing's aggressive expansion in the disputed South China Sea. China opposes the Quad alliance comprising the US, India, Australia and Japan as well as the AUKUS alliance of the US, Australia and the UK, which Beijing asserts is aimed at curbing its rise. China opposes the use of the ‘Indo-Pacific’ strategy to divide the region and create a ‘new Cold War’, and the use of military alliances to put together an ‘Asian version of NATO. The members of the Quad have rejected the notion that it is an Asian NATO or a military alliance, and pointed to its broad-based cooperation, including on vaccines and technology.

    China champions coordination in the Global Security Initiative, which is a well-rounded, systematic proposal. It underscores the importance of both traditional and nontraditional security for a peaceful and stable world. The interests of all countries are closely entwined. Various nontraditional security issues such as terrorism, climate change, cybersecurity, refugee crises and public health, emerging as the main threats facing all mankind, have led the world to an interconnected security dynamic that has a global impact. No country can stay immune from the spillover effects or fix its problems by blame-shifting. Countries must rise up to challenges hand in hand, rather than decoupling from others or building a "parallel system".

    History has repeatedly warned us that a sense of superiority and the "might is right" thinking are the seeds of turmoil, that zero-sum games and camp confrontation are the causes of war, and that jungle laws and power logic are the roots of danger. The tragedy of the 20th century should by no means be repeated in the 21st century. Responding to the urgent need of the international community to maintain world peace and prevent conflict and war, the initiative is proposed at a time when mankind faces the pandemic haze, the rising tensions in Ukraine and various traditional and non-traditional security threats. At a time like the present, when the world is facing unprecedented danger of divisiveness, the initiative also responds to the common pursuit of multilateralism and global solidarity. At the moment, divisiveness is being fuelled by some countries that cling to a Cold War mentality and that are keen to engage in exclusive "small cliques" with false claims of practicing unilateralism in the name of multilateralism and hegemony in the name of democracy. 

      China will continue in-depth exchanges with other countries and build up consensus on the Global Security Initiative. It will double down on efforts to translate the visions in the initiative into reality, respond to the calls of the times with concrete actions, and work for proper settlement of regional and international hot spots for a world of lasting peace and universal security.