UNPACKING CHINA'S NEW WHITE PAPER ON NATIONAL SECURITY

China’s State Council recently released a white paper on national security, titled China’s National Security in the New Era. The document outlines the achievements, practices and concepts of national security that the Chinese Communist Party is implementing currently, and will build on in the future. It presents Beijing’s view of a challenging security environment and proposes how to overcome competition and confrontation, modernize the national security system and support reform and high-quality development. The document presents a rounded perspective of China’s security outlook, retaining Beijing’s firm stance on core national interests.

Based on a comprehensive concept of security, the document necessitates political security for all others, argues for coordinating development and security, and even details the implementation of its Global Security Initiative (GSI). Rather than making any bold departures in its outlook on China’s security environment, the document underlines the multi-faceted approach China is taking to navigating and influencing a dynamic external environment.

Setting the Stage: Uncertainty and China’s Stabilising Influence

The preface to the white paper indicates that China sees a challenging and deteriorating external security environment. It views the world as characterised by multiple contradictions, worsening conditions and intensified geopolitics, with major countries undermining stability. The paper considers Asia-Pacific a region of turbulence, marked by strengthening military alliances and exclusive “small groups”. The document makes a veiled reference to the deployment of the US Typhoon intermediate range ballistic missile system in the Philippines as an example of military deployments undermining stability.

In such a world, China sees itself as a source of stability, resilient to risk and stronger than before. China justifies the positioning of national security as the primary condition in the face of external security pressures from anti-China forces who promote “Westernisation and differentiation strategies”, interfere in China’s neighbouring affairs, borders and internal affairs, and cause trouble in Taiwan, South China Sea, Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. The preface to the White paper presents China as a resilient, stable and strong power in the midst of global uncertainty.

Political Security: Foundation of National Security

In describing its overall national security concept, China reiterates that the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) must not change color, a reference to color revolutions promoted by the West, and that national and ethnic unity cannot be undermined by separatist activities. China’s national security concept, put forward by Xi Jinping at the First Plenary meeting of the Central National Security Commission in April 2015, places political security as the foundation of national security and the fundamental task as maintaining the leadership and ruling status of the Party. The paper argues that political security is necessary for regime security, and without it, China will disintegrate. This emphasis on preserving Party leadership, ideology and system is repeated in the White paper several times, highlighting that the “key to China’s national security lies in the Party”, and “China … always plans security in other areas from the perspective of maintaining political security”.

The white paper makes it necessary to adhere to the leadership of the Party to cope with challenges and risks, and identifies the Central National Security Commission as the main authority to lead national security work. In this context, the White paper warns of infiltration, sabotage, subversion and secessionism by hostile forces and universal values like democracy and human rights, as attempts to undermine political security. Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Macao are mentioned to emphasise that these territories face such challenges more sharply. The paper states that the Party will continue to implement its strategy for governance in these regions, cracking down on secessionist activities and infiltration.

Overall Concept of National Security

China’s concept of national security is centred on the idea of comprehensive security, which covers politics, military, economy, finance, culture, society, science and technology, food, data and several other domains beyond just territorial integrity and sovereignty. This expansive view of the security environment enables system-level thinking and calls for the application of security solutions to problems in all domains.

A major aspect of the comprehensive security concept is domestic security and the idea of China as a safe country. The white paper claims China is one of the safest countries in the world, and lays out a clear target for domestic security; building a safe China at a higher level by developing a solid security barrier for realization of socialist modernization by 2035. The paper provides statistics for homicides, production safety, national disasters and pollution to evidence China’s success in maintaining domestic security. It also highlights new areas of work for national security; telecommunications fraud, cross-border gambling and transnational crimes.

The White Paper details how China protects its overseas interests, through laws, consular protection and escort operations. The paper calls for establishing a 24/7 emergency global consular service centre to safeguard the interests of China’s citizens, organisations and institutions overseas.

Core Interests and Red Lines

China identifies state power, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, people’s well-being and sustainable development as core interests. Interestingly, state power as a core interest suggests that Beijing considers the accumulation of state power as fundamental to executing national security strategy and other policies. The white paper details how China views its interaction with neighbouring countries and proposes to engage on core interests. It claims that China is advancing its boundary talks with India and Bhutan, and that it has border defense cooperation agreements with 9 neighboring countries and border defense meeting mechanisms with 12 countries. China emphasises its claims over the Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea and Nansha islands in the South China Sea in the document. Regarding Taiwan, China maintains that it reserves its right to use force for reunification, but promises to promote the “peaceful development of cross-strait relations”.

China’s national security concept is “intricately intertwined” with development. The white paper details how a dynamic balance between high-quality development and high-quality security must be promoted; by creating a stable external security environment, ensuring social stability, resolving risks in high-quality development and enabling the safe development of new technologies. One of China’s red lines is that it will safeguard its right to open development, by opposing export controls, tariffs, technology and public opinion wars, and “long-arm sanctions”. It also promises to conduct security reviews of foreign investments that may affect national security.

GSI and Common Security

China’s national security white paper details solutions for urgent security problems faced by all countries: its Global Security Initiative, which the paper says is supported by 110 countries and written into 123 bilateral and multilateral documents. The core principles of GSI are common, cooperative and sustainable security concept, respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, abiding by the principles of the UN Charter, attaching importance to the legitimate security concerns of all countries, resolution of disputes in a peaceful manner and coordinated maintenance of security in traditional and non-traditional fields. To implement the GSI, China proposes to support the UN in becoming the core platform for universal security, promote universal security through stable China-Russia, China-US and China-Europe relations, participate constructively to resolve disputes, influence global governance and promote security cooperation in emerging areas like data flows and space exploration.

The white paper identifies China as a developing country and pledges to support countries of the Global South in strengthening security governance. Specifically, it talks about being a peace builder in the Middle East by putting forward a five-point initiative for stability in the region, four suggestions for a new security architecture and promoting reconciliation between Iran and Saudi Arabia. For Africa, China proposes to enhance capacities to maintain peace independently and for Latin American and Caribbean countries, China promises oppose external interference. For common problems in the Global South, such as the Ukraine war, China highlights its efforts to facilitate a political solution and with respect to the Israel-Palestine conflict, the paper states that China is committed to pushing the “issue back on the right track of the two-state solution”. The white paper also details China’s position on conflicts around the world; the Korean peninsula, where it calls for a political solution and denuclearization, and Myanmar, where China talks of actively mediating peace and political reconciliation.

Outcome

China’s White Paper on National Security in the New Era is a key component of Xi Jinping Thought, gives Xi Jinping credit for the overall national security concept and identifies political security and the Party’s leadership of China as its main purpose. The document outlines the contours and content of China’s national security concerns and details solutions for domestic and external security challenges. The White paper also presents China’s position on major international conflicts and security issues, and explains how the GSI will be implemented.

Overall, the document is an important component of China’s thinking on security issues and represents an evolving strategy to manage responses and challenges to China’s rise. It is also a projection of China’s self-image as a stabilising force in the world, a response to the perceived uncertainty of the US administration’s policies. China’s national security strategy white paper is a comprehensive overview of Beijing’s thinking on key security issues, an attempt to influence regional security architectures and shape the global security order.