What is China up to with its new ‘Global Security Initiative’?
29 July 2022
Comprehensive security — or even “securitisation” — in domestic and international relations has become a near-obsession in Chinese politics since Xi Jinping took power in 2012 and 2013.
Security, in the understanding of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is first and foremost ensuring the survival of its Leninist-Maoist power monopoly and socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Other security dimensions are built around this core interest, like onion peels.
It is not by coincidence that Xi Jinping also presides over the Central National Security Commission (CNSC), a newly established body in 2013 to centralise control over the giant Chinese security apparatus.
As early as April 2014, at a CNSC session, Xi presented his concept of “big security” (dà ān quán / 大安全), in which domestic and international security had been defined as inseparably linked.
One was already wondering when a comprehensive concept for China’s foreign relations and worldview under the auspices of security would be released.
