1 November 2024

The Global Security Initiative: China’s International Policing Activities

Erik Green, Meia Nouwens & Veerle Nouwens

China’s Global Security Initiative (GSI) was first proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Boao Forum for Asia in April 2022. It was one of Three Major Initiatives (三大倡议) announced between 2021 and 2023 – the others being the Global Development Initiative (GDI) and the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI). The GSI also enveloped the aims of the Global Data Security Initiative (GDSI) that was announced in 2020. Together these initiatives form part of China’s proposal for a reformed world order and have since been incorporated into its vision for a Community of Common Destiny for Mankind (人类命运共同体). This represents China’s proposed alternative to the existing world order, which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) claims has failed to solve global challenges and endangered world peace. China’s global vision is deliberately defined along its critique of the United States’ hegemonism and unilateralism.

The GSI Concept Paper promotes several security and diplomatic activities that would help China achieve its global security ambitions. It centralises China’s position as a major world power, within the reform process of global-security approaches and mechanisms for security. The GSI reaffirms the role of multilateral organisations, including the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and promotes their adoption of Chinese security norms and operational practices. These norms also feature in the GSI’s establishment of Chinese initiatives and dialogue platforms as the central place for discussing global security issues, such as the China–Africa Peace and Security Forum, Lancang–Mekong Cooperation frameworks and BRICS+. These security ties help China directly protect its citizens and businesses that are conducting more strategically important activities abroad. The GSI thus advances China’s proposed reform of global security, which in turn helps protect its overseas interests.

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