China’s Global Security Initiative

On April 21, China’s President Xi Jinping proposed a new Global Security Initiative (GSI) during a keynote speech at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference. Like Xi’s other big ideas, such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the Global Development Initiative, GSI is heavy on principles and light on concrete details.

Described as “another global public good that contributes Chinese solutions and wisdom to addressing the world’s security challenges” by China’s state media, the GSI rests on six pillars. Some of them, like respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity, are long-standing features of Chinese foreign policy. However, the GSI also has new components, including upholding “indivisible security.”

To unpack the Global Security Initiative and its components, Bonnie Glaser is joined by Manoj Kewalramani, chairperson of the Indo-Pacific Research Programme and a China Studies fellow at the Takshashila Institution in India. He is also a non-resident senior associate with the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC. Kewalramani publishes “Tracking People’s Daily,” a newsletter that offers a breakdown of the weekday editions of the People’s Daily. Visit https://trackingpeoplesdaily.substack.com/ to subscribe.

Episode Highlights

[1:51] Beijing’s Objectives

[5:43] China’s Vision for the International Order

[8:49] GSI’s Relation to US-China Competition

[10:45] "Meat and Bones" over Time

[14:47] “Indivisible Security”

[16:37] India and Others' Perspectives on GSI

[21:27] Sino-Russian Alignment: Implications for China’s Global Security Governance Ambitions?