Holistic approach key to national security

By Li Daguang

China has entered a new phase of development on its way to achieving the second centenary goal of building a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful by the middle of the century. 2022 is a critical year, especially because the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is scheduled for later this year.

Given the drastic changes in the international situation, China has made national security one of its top priorities.

In recent years, security challenges have increased with rising external pressures and the intertwining of traditional and non-traditional security threats, especially because the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated frictions across the world.

The turbulent international security situation has increased the risks and uncertainties. Changing political and economic situations, multiple regional hotspot issues and the increasing non-traditional threats have led to growing global instability. The ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict has shown how complicated and volatile the international situation is.

And multi-polarization, economic globalization and social informatization have deepened the interdependence among countries, which in turn have caused one country's problems to spill over into the region, even the rest of the world.

On the other hand, the pandemic has crippled globalization, which has led to rising unilateralism and protectionism.The United States has taken the lead in restraining emerging countries in order to maintain its global hegemony, and thus made China a major target of its political, economic and technological attacks.

China's security has become more complicated and sensitive. The situation in China's neighborhood is especially volatile because of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, the US' interference in the South China Sea, China-India border disputes, Central Asian countries' security uncertainties, transnational crimes, terrorism and separatism, and other issues.China also faces domestic challenges, including cyclical, structural, short-and long-term economic problems, unbalanced development, limited capacity for technological innovation, people's living standards and social governance.However, China has ample resilience and enormous potential to unleash to meet these challenges.

Separatist forces pose a grave threat to national security, because they could undermine China's development. Since people basically long for a better life, China has to spare no efforts at suppressing disruptive and subversive activities.

The country has to make resolute efforts to safeguard national security and eliminate major risks. After having prioritized its political security, China has to adopt a holistic approach to national security, develop a new security structure, and coordinate regional efforts to safeguard its national security, including in political, economic, social, science and technology, and other key fields.

Guarding against infiltration, subversion and sabotage is important, but for that China needs to boost the resilience of its industries, prevent systemic financial risks, ensure food, energy, mineral and infrastructure security, and protect its overseas interests.

China also needs to strengthen its science and technology sector to safeguard national security. It needs to prevent and contain major workplace accidents, too, and ensure the safety of products and services, especially those that concern people's health. In this regard, effectively containing the pandemic is as important as is the strengthening of governance for biosafety, cyberspace, data and artificial intelligence.

To safeguard its sovereignty, national security and national interests, China should make efforts to improve the external environment, and foster a global vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. It should also strengthen security cooperation with other countries to maintain global strategic stability, address global challenges and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

By paying more attention to coordination and efficiency, the rule of law, science and technology, China can help strengthen its national security capability.

It is also important that China directs all these efforts toward eliminating the risks to its modernization, stabilizing border areas, and cracking down on infiltration, sabotage, subversion and separatist activities.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, China's security has been greatly strengthened to overcome the political, economic, ideological and natural challenges. The strong guarantee for prosperity and long-term stability will continue to benefit China's security and development, and help it realize the second centenary goal.

The author is a Beijing-based expert on military studies.