Chapter 60 The Challenges Faced by Economic Security and the Ways of Thinking to Respond

In the process of economic globalization, the economic field has become the focus of international competition, and its intensity is no less than that of military warfare.The economy is not only the driving force behind all military and political struggles, but has also become an important means of grabbing strategic interests without bloodshed.The Asian financial crisis has shown that the losses caused by an economic crisis are no less than the losses caused by a large-scale local war.The lucrative benefits that some economic powers have obtained by manipulating the economic crisis far exceed those obtained by military conquest.In future economic competition, powerful countries will pay more attention to trade wars, financial wars, energy wars, and intellectual property wars, and economic security will be more focused on by countries around the world.Therefore, how to prevent powerful countries from launching economic wars must become a problem that all countries in the world, especially developing countries, must always pay attention to.In particular, a big country like China, which is rising economically, must pay more attention to economic security issues.

From the overall strategic point of view, China has established a development strategy centered on economic construction, and economic security has of course become the focus of national security and has an important strategic position.It is the foundation of national security and the material prerequisite for realizing and ensuring national military security, political security, social security, cultural and technological security.China is developing its own economy in the face of the established rules of Western capitalism and the absence of dominant resources, market pricing power, and seriously undervalued labor values.From the perspective of economic strategy, China is generally in a weak position in economic competition with Western powers, and it is a contest between the weak and the strong, which is an economic strategic defense.Therefore, maintaining economic security requires a complete guiding ideology and careful planning just like commanding operations.The guidance of economic strategic defense is to ensure that the most fundamental economic interests are not harmed, including a country’s overall economic independence, solid foundation, healthy operation, stable growth, and sustainable development; it has a certain degree of autonomy in international economic life. , defense and competitiveness; the entire economy will not be hit too much and suffer too much loss due to the evolution of certain problems; it can avoid or resolve possible local or overall crises.For example, it is necessary to enhance the ability of weak links in the national economic system to resist external bombardment; it is necessary to have a strategic plan to deal with economic sanctions; On the basis of economic self-protection, expand the boundaries of economic security, take the initiative to attack the global international market, participate in the formulation of international trade rules and obtain corresponding pricing power in important strategic resource markets, etc.

Economic security in a broader sense also includes technology and information security, financial security, oil security, ecological and environmental security, food security, biological security, genetic security, and so on.Ecological security is a new content of national security. It is a higher level than environmental protection. It is not only an environmental support for national economic security, but also a long-term issue related to national survival.Food security is of special strategic significance to the economic stability of our country with a population of 1.3 billion.Oil security is directly related to China's national defense and economic security, and is an important aspect that is threatened by China's national defense and economic security.Technology and information security are not only their own security, but also the support and guarantee of all other security, including economic security. Therefore, maintaining technological security is to improve competitiveness, and maintaining information security is to prevent being controlled.

The economic field is the field with the most friction and contradictions between China and the United States.From the increasing trade wars between the two sides to the US pressure on China's RMB exchange rate and financial reform issues, it all shows that the US has already posed many difficulties to China in the economic and financial fields.What is more noteworthy is that as China and the United States become more and more important in each other's economic development, the two countries will have more and more conflicts and frictions in the economic and financial fields, and the tendency of politicization will increase. stronger.In fact, the economic war of the United States against China has already begun, such as the economic blockade and economic sanctions in the 1950s and 1960s, and the use of different levels of trade, financial, energy and economic means since the 1980s. Intellectual property means attacks on China, etc.However, the current situation is different. Due to the interpenetration of the economies of China and the United States, if an economic war occurs, it will cause a worldwide economic disaster. Therefore, both China and the United States must treat competition calmly and avoid economic wars.This is just as former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Schriver said: "Now the U.S. is almost unable to impose economic sanctions on China. The current economic relationship between the U.S. and China can be compared to the degree of 'guaranteed mutual destruction' between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the Cold War."