Geostrategic Media Political Commentary, Analysis, Security, Defense
Over the past years, China has reiterated the concept of “common security” as a core principle applied to international relations. Since sovereign states act with each other in terms of realpolitik more than international law and norms, China opines it necessary to rebuild a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture to assure the legitimate and reasonable security concerns of all countries in the globalized world. According to the Global Security Initiative (GSI) issued in 2023, China urged that “the purposes and principles of the UN Charter must be observed while the legitimate security concerns of all parties should be addressed in a responsible way.” It is salient that common security should be the prerequisite for global development due to the uneven growth and unfair status between the Global North and Global South, which represents over 80% of the global population.
Logically, the idea of common security can be traced to modern European state system centuries ago. It was held that a system of independent states could maintain the liberty of each without undermining the ideal of an international society due to the principles of the balance of power and non-exclusive security, which aimed to serve general common interests of all states by the means of multilateral diplomacy. Yet, since the United States is obsessed with prior unilateral world order based on its primacy, it has played down the significance of common security in international relations. Consequently, it has not only resulted in the full-scale conflict in Ukraine, but also led to the seminal impacts on the global geopolitical scenario, energy crisis and food shortage.
On March 12, China’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Gneg Shuang asked the European Union (EU) to uphold the idea of common security at a United Nations (UN) Security Council meeting on UN-EU cooperation. The logic behind China’s support to UN-EU cooperation in accordance with the UN Charter can be seen as its efforts in making greater contributions to the maintenance of international peace and security, enhancing the well-being of humanity, and addressing global challenges. Accordingly, China expects such cooperation guided by the principles of multilateralism, common security and a shared future for mankind.
As the “cradle” of modern international system endorsed by the advanced economies and technologies, the EU is supposed to play the role in upholding the purposes and the principles of the UN Charter, respecting international law and universally recognized basic norms of international relations, defending the multilateral system with the United Nations at its core, and eventually promoting solidarity, reciprocity and progress among nations in line with multilateralism. Intellectually, China holds that the security of any country can’t be secured at the expense of the security of others, referring to that there is no ground for achieving regional security by strengthening or even expanding military blocs.
In theory and reality as well, the legitimate security concerns of all countries should be taken seriously and properly addressed. To that end, the EU needs to act independently and responsibly along with the UN Charter to promote a political solution of hot-spot issues and to resolve conflicts and disputes by peaceful means. It requires the EU to work with other UN member states to promote consensus and action-oriented measures at the Summit of the Future to be held later this year, and in doing so, to send a positive signal to the world about opening up new prospects for the international community. In a long run, the ultimate resolution of the Ukraine crisis must be through dialogue and negotiation. The EU, as an important stakeholder, is supposed to act wisely to promote political settlement and create favorable conditions for a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture in Europe.
Yet, the difficulties occur from the EU’s affinity with the NATO, the largest military alliance of the world in history. Since the U.S. primacy is unrivalled in the NATO, this has led to the scenario where the EU member states which are almost the members of the EU have served the general strategy of the U.S.-led NATO. On the one hand, China hopes that the EU will take greater responsibility in management of the local issues such as those in Africa, the Middle East and Ukraine particularly. Politically, China has attached great importance to its relations with the EU, which has been an important force in the process of multi-polarization. China is pleased to see the EU strengthen its strategic autonomy and play a greater role in international affairs such as in the maintenance of international peace and security. In a long run, China is willing to advance multi-level cooperation with the EU and to safeguard world peace, promote common development, and strengthen global governance.
On the other hand, however, what China needs to grasp strategically is the presence of the NATO which includes 22 member states of the total 27 of EU member states. Given this, it is cautious to claim that the EU must keep strategic consensus with the NATO which has been dominated by the United States from the first day of its establishment. In his annual report in 2023, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that “NATO had grown bigger and more capable as the alliance welcomed Finland and Sweden as new members.” In a geopolitical sense, the Nordic countries, including Norway, Sweden and Finland, also wrapped up the Nordic Response 2024 military exercises began last week, focusing on the defence and protection of NATO’s northern region. Noticeably, the military drill across air, land and sea has involved over 20,000 military personnel from 13 countries. In response, President Putin has vowed that Russia would deploy its strategic and regular troops and strike systems near neighbouring Finland and Sweden’s borders following their accession to NATO.
Historically, the origins of the NATO aimed to contain the Soviet Union of the day in line with the British scheme that “to keep Germany down and keep Russia out, Europe must keep the United States in.” Yet, after the collapse of the former Soviet Union, it makes no sense to keep eastward expansion consistently as NATO’s expansion geopolitically accelerates the vicious cycle of intensifying military tension in the region. Now from a geostrategic perspective, Sweden’s entry into NATO will intensify the confrontation between Russia and the West in the Baltic Sea region. Given that the Baltic countries have long held a defensive and vigilant attitude towards Russia, NATO will exert greater military pressure to form a strategic deterrent against Russia. Moreover, Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO unilaterally cut the communication channel between Russia and the alliance. Since the former neutral states joined the military alliance, it is destined to further deterioration of Russia’s external security environment and changes in the European security landscape. Accordingly, Russia will make all efforts to cement its north-western military forces in response to NATO’s real threat.
Now back to the ultimate resolution of the Ukraine issue, Beijing has appealed to all sides involved that the crisis must be through dialogue and negotiation. Since the EU is an important stakeholder in Europe now and in the future, Brussels should do more to promote political settlement and create favourable conditions for a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture in Europe. That is what China has defined as “common security”.
