THE PRC’S NATIONAL SECURITY CONCEPT & MANAGEMENT
In recent years, the PRC has articulated its view of national security as a broad concept that spans the confluence of internal and external threats to the PRC's interests. Party leaders have identified national security as encompassing traditional and non-traditional domestic and foreign threats; the intersection of external influences on internal stability; and economic, cultural, societal and environmental threats. Additionally, Beijing has taken steps to define a concept for national security; improve the CCP's ability to develop and coordinate national security policy across party, military, and state organs; and raise domestic awareness of national security concerns. These efforts seek to address longstanding concerns of China's leadership that the country’s legacy system of stove-piped party-state organizations was ill equipped to meet the growing national security challenges that the PRC faces.
National Security Concept. The CCP's "Overall National Security Concept" (总体国家安全观), first proposed by Xi in 2014, provides the framework for the PRC's national security system, the mission of the Central National Security Commission (CNSC), and the basis of the PRC's national security strategy. According to the Party, the premise of the concept is that "The people's security is the purpose of national security, political security is the root of national security, and priority in national interests is the norm of national security." China’s leaders consider people's security, political security, and national interests as mutually reinforcing aspects of national security. Party outlets describe people's security as the purpose because national security fundamentally must serve the PRC people and nation. Similarly, the Party's view of political security as the foundation of national security is described in terms of the maintenance and "ruling status" of the Party and the system of "Socialism with Chinese Characteristics." This reflects the Party's certainty that its leadership and systems are indispensable to the PRC's national rejuvenation. Party leaders assess the supremacy of national interests as the criterion or standard by which the Party expects its stewardship of the PRC's national security will be judged: its ability to "resolutely safeguard" the PRC's sovereignty, security, and development interests. The PRC's concept also views development and security as mutually supporting aspects of national security in which "security guarantees development, and development is the goal of security."
Central National Security Commission (CNSC). To improve coordination on national security matters, the CCP created the CNSC (中央国家安全委员会) in 2013. The CNSC advises the Politburo; oversees the coordination of national security issues across the government; manages crises; fights terrorism, separatism, and religious extremism; and interacts with foreign counterparts. Embracing the Party's expansive concept of national security, the CNSC's purview covers both internal and external national security matters. The CNSC's mission, codification in law, sprawling definition of national security, and powerful leadership has led the CNSC to become an important party-state organ, and exemplified by its promulgating regulations in 2021 on the "National Security Work of the CCP" and outlining who, what, and how the CCP will lead national security in the PRC.
CNSC Membership. The PRC's top three leaders lead the CNSC: Xi who serves as the CNSC Chairman; Li Qiang (Premier of the State Council); and probably Zhao Leji (Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress). CNSC membership may include Politburo members, senior government leaders, and senior PLA
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OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China
