loading…
President Xi Jinping warned to prepare for the worst scenario when China faces complex security challenges. Photo/chinadaily
BEIJING – Leader China Xi Jinping has asked its top national security officials to think about “worst case” scenarios and prepare for “stormy seas”, as the ruling Communist Party hardens efforts to counter any perceived internal and external threats.
“The complexity and difficulty of national security issues we are facing now have increased significantly,” Xi said at a meeting of the party’s National Security Commission, Xinhua news agency reported, quoted by CNN, Wednesday (31/5/2023).
“We must adhere to bottom-line thinking and worst-case scenario thinking, and prepare to undergo great tests of strong winds and swells, and even dangerous stormy seas,” he added.
At the meeting, Jinping said China should proactively establish a safe external environment to better safeguard the country’s open security and promote deep development and security integration.
The latest tough instructions from Jinping come as Beijing faces a host of challenges, from a struggling economy to what it sees as an increasingly hostile international environment.
Facing what he called a complex and serious situation, Jinping said China must accelerate the modernization of its national security systems and capabilities, with a focus on making them more effective in actual combat and practical use.
He also called on China to push for the construction of a national security risk monitoring and early warning system, enhance national security education and improve data management and artificial intelligence security.
Since coming to power a decade ago, experts say, Jinping has made national security a central paradigm that permeates all aspects of Chinese governance.
He has broadened the concept of national security to cover everything from politics, economics, defense, culture and ecology to cyberspace. It extends from the deep ocean and polar regions into outer space, as well as big data and artificial intelligence.
