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Josephine Ma

Chinese President Xi Jinping has refocused attention on national security and risk reduction, telling the Communist Party’s inner circle that safeguarding the political system is the top priority.
Addressing the Politburo on Friday, Xi said the party would advance the Peaceful China Initiative to an “even higher level”, despite changing conditions.
“To adapt to changes [in circumstances and targets], the Peaceful China Initiative can only be strengthened, and it cannot be weakened,” state news agency Xinhua quoted Xi as saying.
“We should safeguard the security of the regime, the political system, as well as ideology.”
The initiative was first mentioned in 2013 during a meeting between Xi and a group of law enforcers.
It is based on the idea of “holistic national security” and has come to include political, economic, cultural, social, technological and military security.
Its goal is to reduce security risks across society by mobilising all of the country’s resources.


As part of the initiative, China has launched high-profile crackdowns in many areas, from arresting businesspeople for disrupting financial markets to taking people into custody for espionage.
Many local officials have also been punished for not preventing natural and deliberately caused disasters that undermined social security.
However, the large number of punishments meted out prompted many officials to become risk-averse.
Chinese diplomats were also more hawkish in the first decade of the campaign but that tone has eased in recent years.
The more conciliatory diplomatic line has dovetailed with a range of efforts to try to attract overseas investment and tourists, as well as more vocal support for the private sector.
But while Beijing has appeared to shift its focus to economic development in the past year, Xi’s remarks to the Politburo are a reminder that national security across the board remains at the top of Beijing’s agenda.
During the study session on Friday, Xi said a mechanism should be set up to pre-empt social incidents, and more efforts should be directed towards cyber and AI security as well as food and industrial safety.
Law enforcers should also use advanced technology to be more efficient in social governance.
China has shown a capacity to micromanage the movements of the public through not just technology but also a tight network of grass-roots officials.
For example, during the Covid pandemic, a system of digital health codes restricted the movements of people, enabling authorities to impose lockdowns and quarantine.
Xi has also urged officials to apply the “Fengqiao model”, a Mao-era system of resolving complaints against local officials at the grass-roots level.


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China

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Xi puts attention back on national security with call to reinforce decade-old Peaceful China Initiative


Xi puts attention back on national security with call to reinforce decade-old Peaceful China Initiative.


Xi Jinping

Technology

Safeguarding China’s regime is the top priority, Xi Jinping tells Politburo

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Xi puts attention back on national security with call to reinforce decade-old Peaceful China Initiative

Xi puts attention back on national security with call to reinforce decade-old Peaceful China Initiative