China’s new security paradigm and way forward
MOST recently, China has presented new “security paradigm” in the Global Security Initiative (GSI) Concept Paper and called to “resolve” disputes through dialogue and rejecting power politics. It revolves around diplomacy, dialogue and development with no aims of destruction and demolition. Moreover, it stands for integrated efforts to maintain peace, stability and harmony in the world. It shuns any hegemonic designs and promotes harmonious orientations to lessen the chances of war. It upholds nucleolus global society instead of nuclear weapons. It aims at eliminating the root causes of international conflicts and improving global security through rigorous consultations.
It is based on certain principles. It clarifies cooperation mechanisms and underscores China’s responsibilities and firm determination to safeguard world peace by listing 20 major cooperation directions ranging from pure economics to purified politics, military to multiculturalism, and security to governance structure. Furthermore, it supports efforts to prevent war and lead in post-war reconstruction, calling for major countries to play a leading role on global security issues. It rejects hegemony and bullying and builds a peaceful coexistence. It delivers stable and balanced relations between major countries.
It has holistic and comprehensive vision of common, cooperative and sustainable security principles including respect of sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries. It cares about the principles of the UN Charter, taking legitimate security concerns of all countries seriously. It also highlighted that countries should remain committed to peacefully resolving differences and disputes between countries through dialogue and consultation, maintaining security in both traditional and non-traditional domains.
It represents a core idea underscoring a human community with a shared future which has been welcomed and supported by over 80 countries and regions. It is open and inclusive which is meant to safeguard world peace. It calls for achieving and maintaining practice of true multilateralism, resisting a Cold War mentality, rise to unilateralism, bloc confrontation and hegemonism. It calls that all countries should firmly uphold the consensus that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought and promote political settlement of international and regional hotspot issues. It promotes spirits of right and wrong, objectivity and fairness. It supports an early resolution of ongoing Ukraine crisis. It shows China’s deep concerns about the escalating conflict and potential for developments to spiral out of control.
It seems that China will continue to promote peace talks on the issue of Russia-Ukraine conflict and will apply Chinese wisdom for a comprehensive solution. The Chinese Foreign Minister Qin urged relevant countries not to add fuel to the fire, stop blaming China and stop provoking the situation by using references like “Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow because without China’s security, there will be no global security. During the Munich Security Conference the senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi reiterated China’s stance on peaceful development, calling for mutual trust to promote a safer world.
Wang said the world is standing at a critical juncture and that human society should avoid “antagonism, division and confrontation.” pursuing peace is the strong desire of humankind and is the right direction for the advancement of our times. So, for a safer world, states must respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, settle disputes through dialogue and consultation, and play a key role in social and economic development. He stressed the importance of peace, mutual trust, multilateralism, cooperation and development, and opposed unilateralism, isolation and decoupling. Undoubtedly, China is an advocate of international security concept, builder of world peace, defender of international security order and contributor to resolving hot spot issues.
Moreover, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China plays a vital role in international security, and China hopes to weaken geopolitical competition and improve international security. To conclude, the US’ “China Containment Policy” and “US Military Complex Theory” has been continuously escalating and intensifying, posing a serious threat to China’s sovereignty and security which should be denounced and discarded as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, we are witnessing the huge global peace deficit, widening security deficit, trust deficit and governance deficit posing serious challenges that should be resolved to save the struggling humanity living around the globe. Global peace guarantees global development. Quick global economic recovery heavily rests on openness, transparency, modernization, multiculturalism, diplomacy, dialogue and development. It also depends on green development. The new Chinese security paper supports sustained peace and development for common prosperity and development. To achieve the global peace and multilateralism, countries should stay committed to openness and inclusiveness.
Last year, the Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a holistic and comprehensive Global Security Initiative comprising common interests of mankind having vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. It respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries. It abides by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and stay committed to taking the legitimate security concerns of all countries seriously. It stands for peacefully resolving differences and disputes between countries through dialogue and consultation and to maintain security in both traditional and non-traditional domains. It is an innovative concept of achieving smarter global governance system, free of “hegemonic frictions”, “economic fractions”, “social faulty lines” and “political frustration”. It promotes integration and shuns tendency of isolation in the world.
The Chinese Security Concept Paper fully demonstrates China’s commitment to the future and destiny of the world. Unfortunately, hegemony and power politics are on the rise and hawks are flying high to sabotage world peace and stability. Security is directly correlated with human survival and socio-economic prosperity. Therefore, there is an urgent need to resolve all the emerging socio-economic, geopolitical and geo-strategic issues with “Chinese wisdom not with weapons”, with “prosperity not with proxies”, with “cooperation not with conspiracies” and last but not the least, with zeal and not with zero-sum game. Diversity of economies, resources, protection of biodiversity, transition and transformation towards green development, activation of productive channels, fair and free trading system, equitable economic system, greater regional connectivity (CPEC & BRI) and last but not the least, visionary leadership would create wonders in the sphere of security.
