Chapter 58 Comments on Western non-traditional security theories and the concept of "overall security"

In today's world, mankind is facing the threat of climate warming, global epidemic diseases, and terrorism.While paying attention to traditional security, Western countries also put forward the concept of non-traditional security, and believe that the threat of non-traditional security is greater than the threat of traditional security.In the post-Cold War era, facing traditional security and non-traditional security threats, this gives us how to think about national security issues in light of China's actual situation.In particular, how should we respond to real threats that are endangering China's development?

The issue of non-traditional security was first raised in the 1970s by the Copenhagen School of American theory from the perspective of "constructivism", and then a British scholar formally proposed the concept of "non-traditional security" in the 1980s.This concept was immediately widely used by the United States and entered into national policy. The main reason is that after the end of the Cold War, the Soviet Union, the traditional enemy of the United States, no longer existed, and the use of traditional strategic thinking and methods could no longer serve the hegemony to continue to achieve expansion and cooperation. The attempt to lead the world urgently needs to build a "virtual" enemy, and find a grandiose "excuse" for continuing to interfere in other countries' internal affairs that is basically acceptable both internally and externally. The "September 11" incident in 2001 promoted the upsurge of non-traditional security research in Western countries, and raised the response to non-traditional security threats to an unprecedented level of national security strategy, and greatly promoted the concept of non-traditional security worldwide. spread.Some Chinese scholars have also written a large number of articles in recent years to discuss non-traditional security threats in depth, and put forward many valuable insights.However, I believe that non-traditional security threats exist objectively, and they do not exist today. It has happened in various periods of history.The conception of non-traditional security in developed countries in the West, especially the Copenhagen School of American theory, has a strong "Western-centric color" and national utilitarian thinking. It is based on the subjective cognition that there is no threat between countries, regardless of Objectively speaking, whether there is a threat between countries.The non-traditional security concept of the United States was put forward when there were basically no traditional security threats in the United States, and it mainly served the interests of powerful countries and world hegemony.Its main manifestations are as follows:

First, under the banner of international cooperation to solve non-traditional security, it weakens the sovereignty of all countries and seeks to dominate the use of traditional security means. "Constructivism" believes that sovereignty is a relative concept, and human beings may find a way of pluralistic political communities that is more tolerant than sovereign states in the future.This kind of political community that ignores the sovereign interests of other countries in the name of responding to non-traditional security threats is a "fig leaf" for hegemony to infringe on the sovereignty of other countries, and it is an expansionary strategic behavior used to restrain others and limit others but not itself. .

Second, it prompts countries to shift their attention from traditional security threats to non-traditional security threats, weakening countries' attention and preparations for military and political security. The non-traditional security concept proposed by "constructivism" may be suitable for some countries in Europe that have little pressure to survive and face no obvious threats, but it is absolutely inapplicable to most countries in the world, especially developing countries that suffer from violations and threats. Third, power and hegemony still use traditional means of violence when solving non-traditional security issues.

The contradictions and disputes in the international community caused by the United States' war against Iraq in the name of anti-terrorism are examples.This is just as former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan pointed out in his speech at the World Economic Forum in January 2004 that the dangers in today's world stem not only from terrorism, but also from the way of the war on terrorism."International terrorism and the war on terror both have the potential to overturn codes of conduct and human rights standards, and widen cultural, religious and racial divides," he said. Fourth, power and hegemony highlight the threat of non-traditional security and coerce countries around the world to cooperate with it. This is, to a certain extent, a way for them to seek world leadership.

Fifth, the non-traditional security threats faced by some major powers are largely the inevitable result of their hegemonic policies, military intervention, stealthy economic plunder, and the imposition of their own values. Therefore, when citing Western security theories, especially those proposed by the United States, attention should be paid to analyzing their objectively formed political goals or hidden political intentions.In the absence of comparability, purely theoretical plagiarism and formal imitation should be avoided for foreign things. When we study and discuss national security issues, we must proceed from the actual situation in China.We must always pay attention to the fundamental strategic interests of the country, and use comprehensive national strength to plan and safeguard the fundamental interests of our country.In terms of security threats, we must sort different security threats according to their priorities. How important are traditional security and non-traditional security threats? Which threats are more direct and urgent? The different answers to these questions not only affect the primary and secondary distinctions of national security goals and the allocation of resources, but also directly determine the priorities of national security policies and national security strategies.

We must be soberly aware that economic globalization is accompanied by political, economic, cultural and military expansion of hegemony.Therefore, we must think deeply about the references to traditional security and non-traditional security.In the context of globalization, traditional security threats are still serious obstacles to world peace and development, while non-traditional security threats have risen in status and become more prominent, posing a serious threat to world peace and development.This is an overall judgment of the international strategic security situation and a grasp of the general trend of international strategic security.But as far as China is concerned, the boundary between traditional security threats and non-traditional security threats has been broken, and the trend of mutual penetration and interaction between traditional security threats and non-traditional security threats is more obvious.We do not deny that the non-traditional security theories proposed by the West play a positive role in promoting the innovation and development of international security theories, nor can we criticize them simply because they are put forward by the United States. Americans have American strategic goals, and Americans have American interests. The strategy that Americans think is correct and suitable for Americans is not necessarily suitable for China, and the strategy of foreigners cannot solve China's problems.The key is to transform it while learning from it, use it for my own use, and serve our development.Therefore, using the Western division method of "traditional security" and "non-traditional security" cannot fully and accurately describe the current security problems facing our country, and we should propose our own security theories and security concepts.

It is necessary for us to discuss the overall security issues including both traditional security and non-traditional security.In my opinion, the challenges we face are the overall security challenges of politics, economy, culture, military, social environment, science and technology, information, etc. To deal with the overall security challenges must also be the overall operation.The proposal of this "overall security" concept mainly focuses on the following aspects: One is that according to the viewpoint of materialist dialectics on universal connection and the holistic principle of modern philosophical system theory, we are required to carry out holistic thinking when we understand a complex thing, starting from the whole to grasp and study the part, and then returning to the The whole, putting the parts into the whole for observation and analysis.Separating traditional security from non-traditional security does not conform to the Marxist view that things are connected and the holistic principle of modern philosophical system theory.

Second, in overall security, security issues such as politics, economy, culture, military affairs, social environment, science and technology, and information are an organic whole that is interconnected, affects each other, and intersects with each other.To say that it is interrelated does not mean that these factors are simply summed up, but that a new function is produced as a whole.Our value pursuit should be to give full play to the overall function. Only in this way can we form new powerful functions from the uneven security functions in various fields and exert the best overall power.When dealing with overall security threats, if the security issues in any one area are not handled properly, it will affect the security issues in other areas. Therefore, we should not only focus on the security issues in one or two areas and ignore the security issues in other areas.For example, China is a major importer of oil, and oil is directly related to China's economic security, as well as national defense security and social development security.In national security, the division of various fields cannot be very clear and clear, and there are cases of intersection and mutual integration.For example, the security of scientific and technological information is not only its own security, but also the support and guarantee of all other security. If the traditional security and non-traditional security are divided according to the method, the complete meaning of national security cannot be expressed.This is one of the factors behind the concept of "integral security" of the country.

Third, the threats faced by most developing countries are holistic.In the era of peace and development, the political, military and diplomatic conflicts in the traditional security field are indeed relatively slowing down. This is a fact.However, the international structure is seriously unbalanced, and hegemony continues to pursue expansionary policies. Therefore, compared with Western developed countries (almost no traditional security problems), most developing countries still face threats to traditional security.At the same time, due to the persistent injustice of the world's political and economic order, the widening gap between the North and the South has led to rampant terrorism, increased financial risks, gradual scarcity of resources, flooding of harmful information, and many other security issues. It has become a prominent problem affecting countries all over the world, especially developing countries.This shows that the threats that developing countries are now facing are holistic.

Fourth, when dealing with overall security threats, it is necessary to have an overall judgment on actual security threats.As the saying goes: "Don't jump in if you don't know the depth of the pond", "Don't cut off the branch you are sitting on", "Think twice before acting", "Be careful and make no big mistakes", only in this way can the guiding ideology and carefulness of the overall safety be formed. overall response plan. Fifth, to deal with security issues requires overall operation.The issue of maintaining national security itself involves multiple departments of the country, multiple fields, and multiple systems. It directly tests the country's overall anti-risk capabilities and requires the mobilization of national political, military, economic, diplomatic, technological, and cultural resources. In order to minimize the losses caused by the crisis, the overall effectiveness of the country must be brought into play.However, according to the method of dividing traditional security and non-traditional security, it will not be conducive to the overall effectiveness of the country in safeguarding security interests. It is worth noting that, even in accordance with the distinction between traditional security and non-traditional security, the non-traditional security threats my country faces are not only different in content, but also in their degree and causes compared with Western countries such as the United States and Britain.The non-traditional security threats facing our country are generally partial and potential threats.As far as our country's current reality is concerned, the threat from traditional security is still the main threat.The pressure of the military struggle we face remains.Super hegemonism has not changed my country's basic policy of engagement and containment; some regional powers have advanced their military expansion, which poses a major potential threat to China; some hotspot crises directly affect the security and stability of China's surrounding areas.Especially at present, extreme "Taiwan independence" separatist forces and international intervention forces are the most urgent and real threats to national sovereignty.Therefore, safeguarding national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, resisting foreign interference, stopping division and maintaining social stability are the main tasks for China to deal with national security threats. Our country has entered an era in which multiple threats coexist as a whole, and the threats my country will face in the coming period will be multiple threats.Western hostile forces use social contradictions to plan turmoil, riots, and riots; three evil forces (ethnic separatist forces, religious extremist forces, and violent terrorist forces) create various terrorist incidents; serious natural disasters, major epidemics, major accidents, and mass emergencies etc.If the above-mentioned threats are not handled properly, they may turn into disasters, turn them into challenges to China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and even lead to a comprehensive and overall crisis that shakes my country's state power, thus seriously affecting China's path of peaceful development.Therefore, to maintain national security, we must have a strategic thinking of overall security.Otherwise, it will appear that those engaged in military affairs will emphasize the importance of national defense security, those engaged in economics will emphasize the importance of economic security, those engaged in the environment will emphasize the importance of environmental security, and those engaged in information will emphasize the importance of information security. It is definitely not conducive to the maintenance of the overall security of the country. What needs to be emphasized here is that in today's world, the nation-state is still the basic unit of the world strategic system.Any theory that dilutes or weakens a country's core sovereignty is either ignorant or a lie.In the face of the rapid development of globalization and the further widening of inequality and asymmetry between countries, safeguarding national sovereignty and security and safeguarding national interests are the starting point and destination of national strategies of all countries.In the face of Western developed countries updating their security concepts, adjusting their security strategies, and gradually realizing the trend of shifting from emphasizing traditional security threats to taking into account and even highlighting non-traditional security threats, we can take advantage of the opportunity for Western developed countries to pay attention to non-traditional security threats , Build a cooperation "platform" to expand our international space and seek strategic interests.While using the "platform" to cooperate, it is necessary to ensure that the sovereignty and right of survival of the country are not damaged.This is what we should study and pay attention to.