China’s rise and its implication on current world security

Thoughts on 9th Xiangshang Forum “Maintaining International Order and Promoting Peace”. The forum is a platform that invites participants from around 70 countries to come together and discuss world security issues. It also serves as platform to express China’s views on regional and international issues. The inauguration speech by the Chinese minister of defense presented an overview of China’s defense white paper published in July 2019 titled “China’s defense in the new era”.

China has reformed and modernized its army in recent years. It has reduced the number of service personnel and has invested heavily in the modernization of the military structure, arms and equipment.

The panels of the forum addressed eight main topics: Innovation in security concepts; Strategic trust and confidence building measures; Asia-Pacific security structure; Maritime security situation; International counterterrorism cooperation; New security situation in the Middle East; Scientific and technology innovation; and AI and future warfare. All panels were taking place simultaneously, so I have tackled three main ones - maritime, AsiaPacific and Middle East panels.

In short, I can conclude that China is aware that its economic rise is creating a regional competition with the US and it would rather work with its neighbors to maintain the security of the region. However, China believes that the integrity of Chinese territory is crucial to its national policy, meaning Taiwan and its unification with mainland China and any Western intervention there is a direct threat to its integrity. This includes China’ claims in the South China Sea and Diaiyu islands.

Moreover, Brazil is considered another important partner to China within the BRICS and in UN peacekeeping missions. Brazil is an important player in the UN and its institutions. It respects international rules within its foreign policy. Brazil’s interest is in strengthening cooperation with China in all fields of cooperation - political, economic, energy and military. Both countries are celebrating their 45th anniversary of bilateral relations. The Brazilian president will visit China in the coming days.

Nevertheless, topics such as the North Korean nuclear issue, the Korean-Japanese conflict and the US’ AsiaPacific policy played a key element in understanding the Asia-Pacific security structure. China will not replace any superpower’s presence but rather cooperate with the existing mechanism to maintain peace and prosperity, like the ASEAN +1 mechanism and others that aim to protect the maritime security of the Indo-Pacific region. France is another nation that contributes to the protection and safety of the Indo-Pacific region and will have a role in the present and future of the Asia-Pacific region. ASEAN’s security structure also plays a crucial role in territory and resource conflicts in Asia.

As for the Middle East, the main message is that China does not aim to take the US’ role in defending and protecting this region. It rather promotes dialogue through the formation of a regional security dialogue that includes all regional countries with the superpowers that are currently present in the region to help solve the instabilities there. Terrorism and US trade war are other hot topics that were discussed in this forum. No one is winning in this war and soon positive progress will be reached. China’ advancement in artificial intelligence and technology is important in the military field.

All regional security structures should be inclusive and try to find a win-win situation for all or at least a negotiable and suitable situation for all the regional countries to avoid wars and geopolitical instabilities. China’s One Road One Belt is its only initiative that will bring prosperity and development to all mankind. China is a big contributor to the UN peacekeeping efforts both with around 2,500 personnel and with financial support. It’s important that the first peacekeeping force that China participated in was the UN peacekeeping force on the Kuwait-Iraq border in 1992.

Take away points: The Middle Eastern nations should exert more efforts to solve their issues. Egypt is a great example of resilience over terrorism and development of infrastructure. The Chinese interest in the region is mainly economic and energy related that is supported by political support. Yet China seems hesitant in intervening in the region after the Libyan crisis. China will always have a diplomatic role to play - however its interest to provide defense and protection to the region is still farfetched, although it has military cooperation with several countries in the region. China’s main military partner today is Russia and there is a clear alliance in the process between these two superpowers. — Embassy of China