The Chinese Government, the Idea of Security, and Foreign Policy

Abstract

How did the issue of sending the armed forces abroad and the defence of interests overseas enter and evolve in the Chinese foreign policy debate? The analysis in Chapter 1 of the speeches and documents released by the Chinese leaders and government institutions reveals three interconnected and important changes that have happened since the late 1980s. First, from Jiang Zemin’s New Security Concept to Xi Jinping’s Comprehensive National Security, the management of non-traditional security issues has consistently been the main driver behind the expansion of Chinese military activities overseas. Second, non-traditional security issues abroad changed from being seen as diplomatic opportunities to be considered, especially after the evacuation from Libya of almost 36,000 Chinese nationals, as threats to the regime’s legitimacy and China’s national security. Third, as overseas non-traditional security crises started to be perceived as threats, the orders from the civilian leadership to the foreign policy bureaucracy and, especially, the armed forces to prepare to play a larger role in peacetime foreign policy became increasingly urgent and clear.

The EU-China Security Paradox

“…Threats that challenge China's sovereignty or integrity are no longer bound to China's national borders, as the evacuation of more than 35,000 Chinese citizens from conflict-ridden Libya in 2011 showed (Junbo and Méndez, 2015). Facing increasing domestic pressure to protect Chinese citizens abroad as well as to secure its economic interests in other world regions, the PRC has genuinely augmented its response tools to such security challenges, and enhanced its diplomatic and military capabilities to face not only domestic security threats, but also those that are transnational in scope and nature (Ghiselli, 2018(Ghiselli, , 2020. This includes improved coordination of the PLA and its preparation for missions beyond the Chinese nation-state.…”

“…On the one hand, the specific approach taken to address terrorism reflects China's dynamic social and economic transformation, and is further influenced by its changing global security role. There is evidence that China is afraid of retaliation from terrorist groups in the Middle East and Central Asia (Kelemen and Fergnani, 2020), which would pose a threat to its territorial integrity and state survival, and would further endanger its citizens overseas (Ghiselli, 2020) as well as its investments abroad. Altogether, this leads to its choice of defection over cooperation (Interview 1).…”