China's security signals

HINA'S FIRST WHITE paper on "China's National Security in the New Era" (WPNS) was released on May 12.

- ANITA INDER SINGH

An English translation of the abstract was published by the official tabloid Xinhua. That suggests Beijing is simultaneously interested in presenting it to an international audience, while limiting public information. Any "opening up" will only happen on the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) terms, with full consideration for the country's security interests.

Facing a complex landscape of external turbulence, China's goal, the paper says, is to work with Asia-Pacific nations to promote peace, development, and stability. The WPNS expresses concern about technological competition, flashpoints from the Taiwan Strait to the South China Sea, a tariff war with America—all at a time when the world is disturbed by the international disorder created by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Russia-Ukraine and Gaza-Israel wars. "Chinese wisdom" offers solutions to contemporary challenges and has been victorious in the recent tariff spat with America.

The WPNS notes that the central committee of the CCP, of which President Xi Jinping is the general secretary, has proposed a "holistic" approach to national security and established a national security commission. Xi is simultaneously chairman of the Central Military Commission. He therefore plays the paramount role in modernizing and deepening mechanisms and capabilities for national security. China's national security is inextricably intertwined with, and guided by, the people's security. The "people's security"—citizens' sense of "fulfillment, happiness, and security"—is the final aim. But "political security" is the "fundamental task".