Author: DAI Changzheng (Research Fellow, Capital High-end Think Tank, Beijing Institute of Opening to the Outside World, Dean and Professor, School of International Studies/Institute of National Security and Governance, University of International Business and Economics)
The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly pointed out that it is necessary to adhere to the people's security as the purpose, political security as the foundation, economic security as the foundation, military, scientific, technological, cultural and social security as the guarantee, and the promotion of international security as the basis, and make overall plans to build a new security pattern in which external security and internal security, homeland security and national security, traditional security and non-traditional security, self-security and common security are mutually adaptable, and the new development pattern is used to ensure the new development pattern, and the new development pattern promotes the new security pattern. This exposition runs through the world outlook and methodology of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and has great guiding significance for us to understand and deal with national security issues under the conditions of the new era, the new stage of development and the new changes.
The expression of the world outlook and methodology of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era in the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has six aspects, namely, "adhere to the supremacy of the people, adhere to self-confidence and self-reliance, adhere to integrity and innovation, adhere to problem-oriented, adhere to the system concept, and adhere to the mind of the world", any of which is of great value to our correct understanding and handling of national security issues, especially the "adherence to the system concept" is of overall, strategic and programmatic significance. This is because security, as the most basic value of politics, is not only a problem with particularly complex connotation and extension at a deep level, and the law is difficult to grasp, but also at the theoretical and practical level, it is an issue that is inseparable from the internal and external economic, political, military, scientific, technological, social and cultural factors of the country. Therefore, in order to correctly understand the issue of national security and effectively safeguard national security, we must apply the universal connection of Marxism and the constantly developing dialectical epistemology, and apply the systematic concepts in the world outlook and methodology of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, so as to avoid static, isolated and one-sided in theory, as well as bias and aberration in practice. In fact, General Secretary Xi Jinping's idea of "overall national security view" has set such a model for us.
Adhering to the system concept has pointed out the correct direction for correctly understanding and handling the relationship between development and security. For a long time, the international academic community has formed a separate and disconnected tradition on the issue of security and development, as if development issues belong to the field of economics and security issues belong to the field of political science, resulting in economics not studying security issues and political science not studying development issues. In economics, whether it is "mercantilism", "liberalism" or "Keynesianism", security issues are ignored, because the principle of efficiency priority in economics naturally regards growth based on optimal resource allocation as the most urgent issue, and in the imagination of economics, emphasizing security is a certain constraint on development. Neoliberal economics not only criticizes the state but also attempts to deconstruct it, as if the weaker the state is, the more efficient the economy becomes.
However, facts have shown that development issues can never be separated from security considerations, not only in developing countries but also in developed countries. In many developing countries, economic development is impossible because basic political stability and political order cannot be guaranteed, and the state is unable to control and control society. At the same time, due to the severe poverty of society and people, political turmoil, social conflicts, ethnic contradictions and extreme behaviors have further stimulated the country, and the country has fallen into the dilemma of "ungoverned" insecurity. The formation of this vicious circle has led to the absence of security and development in these countries, and they have remained poor and weak for a long time. In developed countries, they are also faced with contradictions and conflicts between development and security. Although Western countries such as the United States and Europe have developed through industrialization and overseas colonization, the domestic contradictions caused by the development of capitalism, as well as conflicts, wars and even world wars on a global scale, show that such development, even if it is highly developed, cannot automatically bring security. In recent years, the United States and some Western countries have been severely tested by security aspects such as disparities between the rich and the poor, class antagonisms, ethnic conflicts and political divisions that have accumulated over a long period of time in the process of development.
In sharp contrast, China insists that development and security are closely linked and inseparable, and insists on integrating national security and development. Especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has persisted in using dialectical materialist epistemology and systematic concepts to understand and deal with development and security issues, realized the theoretical innovation of the "overall national security concept", promoted security with development, and developed with security guarantees, realizing a high degree of unity between national security and development in human history.
Adhering to the system concept provides a basic method for correctly understanding and dealing with traditional security and non-traditional security. The security issues discussed in traditional theories and academia only cover both political and military aspects, including economic security, social security, cultural security and scientific and technological security, which are excluded from security issues, which is obviously extremely one-sided and limited. The reason is that, from the perspective of the Weberian state, it is safe as long as the state can ensure the monopoly of violence and the enforcement of coercive power in fixed territory. In this sense, the so-called national security means, on the one hand, that the country is safe if the power is not subverted within the country and maintains a minimum of political stability. On the other hand, as long as national sovereignty is not deprived or violated by foreign and external forces, the state is also safe. Military and violence have received extreme attention because they are considered key to ensuring security.
However, due to the changes in the situation and the development of history, the shortcomings of such a security concept have become more and more obvious. First, with the development of modern social, economic, political, cultural and scientific technology, various parts of the social organism are connected and interacted with each other with unprecedented depth and breadth. The political, economic, social, cultural, military, and scientific and technological links within the country have generally deepened, showing a chain effect of "increasing entropy" or "reducing entropy" that affects the whole body. An obvious manifestation is that the political system based on a fragile economy means that there is no basic guarantee of security, and economic development depends first and foremost on the progress of science and technology, but the progress of science and technology is inseparable from the degree of civilization and cultural development of society. In the final analysis, a country's external security is also based on the country's comprehensive strength. In this sense, the sum of the country's political influence, economic and military scientific and technological strength, cultural soft power and social vitality together constitute the comprehensive strength of the country. In other words, the strength of the country's systematic strength determines the security of the country.
What needs to be emphasized here is that modern countries are in the process of rapid and deep development of globalization, and various non-traditional security issues are becoming increasingly prominent and bringing serious troubles and challenges to the country. Non-traditional security issues are accompanied by hegemonism, geopolitics, great power games, local wars, etc., which pose a serious threat to the security of all countries in the world. The intertwined reality of traditional and non-traditional security requires that people must establish a systematic concept in order to promote the solution of these problems. Facts also show that it is difficult to deal with the systemic problems of national security.
Adhering to the system concept provides a fundamental basis for correctly understanding and handling external security and internal security, homeland security and national security, and self-security and common security. In dealing with the above-mentioned problems, traditional security theories have serious one-sidedness and limitations, which are manifested in attaching importance to external security and ignoring internal security, attaching importance to homeland security and ignoring national security, attaching importance to one's own security and ignoring common security. Of course, the international academic community is increasingly aware of the above-mentioned shortcomings, so concepts such as "human security", "social security" and "development security" have been continuously proposed and discussed. Nevertheless, in general, the focus of security research remains on the pursuit of keeping security threats out of the national territory through the use of national power. This is obviously the result of the dominance of the security discourse of hegemonic countries and powerful countries. Because, in the eyes of these countries, their own social and political systems are superior, the main threat to the state comes from what they define as non-democratic countries, and the so-called "no war between democracies" expresses this prejudice. However, as discussed above, internal, national and common security not only plague developing countries, but also challenge hegemonic and powerful powers from both internally and externally. Indeed, against a backdrop of increasingly complex security issues, no country is immune to it. The so-called "absolute security" pursued by individual countries is absolutely impossible to exist.
On the contrary, only by attaching importance to external security, homeland security and one's own security, as well as internal security, national security and common security, can we correctly understand and handle security issues. This is also the core essence of the "overall national security concept" put forward by Chinese leaders. Socialist China has always adhered to "people-centeredness", is economically committed to common prosperity, politically "the people are masters of the country", committed to ethnic equality and national unity, internationally committed to "common security", advocated "common values for all mankind", and promoted the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind. This is the inevitable result of the mastery of Marxism and its Sinicization eraization mastered by the Chinese Communists, and it is also the inevitable conclusion drawn by adhering to the concept of system.
Source: China Social Sciences Network - China Social Sciences News