China’s First National Security White Paper Signals Tighter Control Over Tibet, East Turkistan

By Tenzin Chokyi

DHARAMSALA, 28 May: Ironically, China, long known for its secrecy and tight control, has released its first-ever White Paper on National Security, acknowledging both “external” and “internal risks” at a critical stage in its modernisation. The document sets a defiant tone, suggesting there will be more restrictions and tensions in its occupied regions, like Tibet and East Turkistan.

The white paper titled “China’s National Security in the New Era”, released on May 12, presents China as a “stabilising force” in the “turbulent world” of “hegemonic bullying” and “resurfaced Cold War mentality”, academics and journalists have said. 

Blaming the US’ Asian allies for participating in so-called “exclusive cliques” led by Washington, China attempts to project itself as a legitimate counterweight to the US and as the flag bearer of a multilateral world, through the paper, Yang Zi is an Associate Research Fellow in the China Programme at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore said in a commentary on CNA (Channel NewsAsia). 

However, while swiftly criticising Western hegemony, China has blatantly denied its own colonial and hegemonic practices in its occupied regions like Tibet and East Turkestan. In the document, it conveniently labels the ongoing unrest in the regions as the work of “Western anti-China forces”.

The constructed link between internal and external threats effectively reaffirms internal dissent as a threat to China’s national security, thereby implying a heightened crackdown on the meagre freedom of expression in the regions.

Commenting on the paper, Advocacy group the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) said China has succinctly asserted its commitment to “fully implement the Party’s strategies for governing Tibet and East Turkistan in the new era,” pledging to “crack down on secessionist and sabotage activities,” and to “effectively curb infiltration.”

It further declared that the latest White Paper conveys  “CCP regime dominance at the core of China’s national security”.

The document revealed that national security strategies and policies, designed for risk prevention and emergency response, have been developed in different areas, alongside the creation of a risk monitoring and early warning system. 

Notwithstanding its entrenched party hegemony, the document positions the political security of the Chinese Communist Party(CCP), its leadership and the socialist system at the heart of China’s national security, all in service of its “national rejuvenation strategy amid global changes of a scale unseen in a century”. 

Critics suggest that the White Paper serves as a directive to the people in China about how they should perceive the CCP by equating the party with China’s political security. 

Human rights and democracy are cited as being one of the four “red lines” that the United States cannot challenge China on. “The Taiwan issue, China’s path and institutions, and the country’s right to development” are the other three red lines. 

Yang Zi argues that the first-ever document on China’s national security represents “the continuity rather than a departure from past practices”.  He stated that it is rooted in the “comprehensive national security” concept, introduced by President Xi Jinping in 2014.

It is stated that the National Security Commision, created in 2013, is a secret body composed current topmost echelon of the CCP leadership, including Xi Jinping, Li Qiang, (the Prime Minister), Zhao Lejim, (the chairman of the Standing Committee of the NPC), and Cai Qi, (the secretary of the Secretariat of the CCP.)

Manoj Joshi, a veteran Indian journalist from the Observer Research Foundation in Delhi, stated in an opinion piece on The Wire that despite China’s posture of strategic confidence, it inadvertently reveals insecurity within the regime. However, Joshi argues that with its economic, technical and defence achievements, China is better positioned to cope with what it deems as national security threats and to shape its external security environment.