Interview: China's Global Security Initiative enhances global peace, security

HARARE, June 3 (Xinhua) -- The China-initiated Global Security Initiative (GSI) will open the world to power balancing and enhance global peace and security, a Zimbabwean international relations analyst has said.

"The Chinese are not militaristic in terms of their foreign policy as opposed to the West," Gibson Nyikadzino told Xinhua on Thursday.

The GSI, proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, seeks to eliminate the root causes of international conflicts, improve global security governance, encourage joint international efforts to bring more stability and certainty in a volatile and changing era, and promote durable peace and development in the world.

Nyikadzino added that the initiative intends to establish an equal recognition of state contributions to global peace and security under a framework of mutual cooperation.

He said China had become an indispensable player in the global peace process at a time when the post-Cold War world has been dominated by Western unilateralism.

While Western security initiatives are largely in favor of military intervention to resolve disputes, China's approach is pro-peace and security, said Nyikadzino.

He lamented the West's militaristic foreign policy which has caused suffering in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya and Ukraine, noting that such a foreign policy is meant to "benefit the military-industrial complex and has made the world much more unsafe."

On the other hand, China has not shown any driven by militarism, he added.

Unfortunately, as the United States and the West think in military terms, they see China's initiative as one that is asserting hegemony, while the truth is that China has no plans to dominate the world, Nyikadzino said.

The analyst said the GSI is significant in that it appreciates the changing nature of international conflicts as initiated by both state and non-state actors, and the importance of countries cooperating to curb the escalation of violence.

In Nyikadzino's view, the rise of China is set to reduce global instability.

"While the efforts by China ... are what is needed to address the current security needs, the efforts to contain China from the West are trying to frame China as an aggressor instead of a peacemaker/peace-builder," he said.

The analyst also expected that the success of the GSI can help enhance peace and security in Africa, as some parts of the continent are still being affected by conflicts.