Initiative promotes comprehensive, sustainable security for all

While addressing the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2022 on April 21, President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Security Initiative, which upholds a common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security concept.

As the world faces severe challenges from conventional and unconventional security threats, the initiative points a way forward for the global community to defuse major security risks, safeguard world peace and push the global order in a more just and reasonable direction. The initiative is thus of historic significance.

Wars have been a ubiquitous feature of human history. But today peace is the primary and foremost goal of people around the world. Yet even in the 21st century, when humanity has developed a high level of material civilization, the world has not been spared the scourge of war. Today, the risks of war, particularly one between major powers, have heightened to a dangerously high level.

This is because the United States, as the world's sole superpower, refuses to abandon its hegemonic mindset. Instead, it is intensifying its confrontations and rivalry with major countries.

A global war breaking out among nuclear weapon states will surely be a doomsday scenario for humanity.

It is at such a critical moment that President Xi has proposed the Global Security Initiative, which upholds the vision of building a global community of a shared destiny by conforming to the basic norms of international relations based on the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, and by abandoning a Cold War mentality that stokes divisions and hostilities, and rejecting unilateralism and bloc confrontations.

The whole world, especially Western countries, should keep a sober mind on this issue, and uphold the Global Security Initiative to safeguard world peace and security.

With the world's strategic landscape undergoing profound changes, the global order, including the global security order, is evolving accordingly. How to build a more just and reasonable international order is a key challenge of our times. The Global Security Initiative proposed by Xi conveys the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and embodies the principle of indivisible security.

The Global Security Initiative also calls for the building of a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture, rejecting double standards and opposing unilateralism and the wanton use of unilateral sanctions. The Chinese leader's proposal offers a blueprint for the construction of a more just and fair global security order.

The world now faces severe and complex security challenges－not only traditional security problems such as territorial and sovereign disputes, but also nontraditional security challenges such as terrorism, climate change, cyberthreats and biosecurity.

In this era of globalization, all these challenges cannot be dealt with by any single country or group. For instance, global warming cannot be checked without the coordinated efforts of all countries. If countries do not put aside their differences and hostilities and work together for a sustainable future, the planet's temperature as well as the concentration of carbon dioxide will keep growing, causing irreparable damage to the Earth's environment. Humanity will face an existential threat once the climate threshold is crossed.

Likewise, other security challenges will not be overcome if countries fail to join hands and endeavor to build a global community with a shared future, as Xi urges.

Despite the world's material abundance, people across the globe face great uncertainties and dangers. Humanity is at a crossroads, and its future depends on the choices made by all countries. Peace and development remain the themes of our times. Security is the prerequisite for development.

History has proved time and again that divisions and confrontations harm all countries' interests, and only through solidarity and cooperation can peace and development be safeguarded. Along with the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative establishes a solid foundation on which to build a community with shared future for all mankind.

The author is deputy director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.