Jun. 2010, Volume 7, No.6 (Serial No.

56)

Journal of US-China Public Administration, ISSN 1548-6591, USA

Comprehensive security: Challenge for China in the age of globalization*

MA Bo
(Department of Political Science, City University of New York, New York NY10016, USA)

Abstract: Traditionally, security is understood as merely national defense. During an on-going process of globalization, economic, political and cultural interdependence between individuals, nations and regions have changed the traditional ideas of national security to broader dimensions. The notion of incorporating economic security, environmental security and human security, with national security into a single whole, formulate the idea of comprehensive security (CS). This paper tries to explore the origin, components, and significance of comprehensive security. In case studies, the rise of China in the twenty-first century is not an assumption any more, but a reality already. In this research, the author focuses on China, a country which not only experiences comprehensive development, but also faces comprehensive security challenges in the age of globalization. The author discusses Chinas security challenge from a comprehensive perspective and argues that understanding them and finding the solution will not only benefit China itself, but also benefit other nations as a whole in the age of globalization. Key words: comprehensive security; China; globalization

1. Introduction
Traditionally, security is understood as merely national defense (military security). However, during an on-going process of globalization, economic, political and cultural interdependence between individuals, nations and regions have changed the traditional ideas of national security to broader dimensions.1 The notion of incorporating economic security, environmental security and human security, with national security into a single whole, formulate the idea of comprehensive security.2 Comprehensive security (CS) is not just a fashionable concept. The government of the United States has been considering the policy-implication of the comprehensive perspective of security.3 The rise of China in the twenty-first century is not an assumption any more, but a reality already. In this research, the author will focus on China, a country which not only experiences comprehensive development, but also faces comprehensive security challenges in the age of globalization. The author examines the challenges China faces in terms of economic, environmental and human security. Economically, shortages of natural
* The author appreciates the helps and comments from Professor James Hsiung at New York University, Professor Jesus de Miguel at University of Barcelona, Professor Yan Sun and Peter Liberman at CUNY Graduate Center, Professor Ming Xia at College of Staten Island, CUNY and Professor Chun Lin at the London School of Economics. MA Bo, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Political Science, City University of New York; research fields: international organizations, security studies, international law and governance, international relations of Asia and Chinese Politics. 1 Anthony Giddens in his book Europe in Global Age defines globalization as increasing interdependence between individuals, nations and regions. It does not just mean economic interdependence. Involves accelerated and universal communication, and concerns also political and cultural dimensions (2007: xii). 2 The idea of comprehensive security was first given by Swedish prime minister Olaf Palme, when he was head of the Commission on Disarmament and Security Issues in 1981. 3 In 1998, The Pentagon issued a report known as U.S. Security Strategy for the East Asia-Pacific Region, which included a new section on The Search for Comprehensive Security: Transnational Security Challenges for the 21st Century.

35

Comprehensive security: Challenge for China in the age of globalization

resources make China a global hunter for energy, as well as bring competition of natural resource with the Unites States and European countries globally. On the other hand, its industrialization faces the challenge of technologiless, which means that it mainly relies on producing labor-intensive goods. Environmentally, the rapid development of economy also brings problems of environmental crisis and production security influencing other countries. Various pollutions not only affect the efficiency of the economy, more importantly, they damage the human health of the people. In terms of human security, the most significant challenge is from the poverty and income inequality issues. The gaps between the rich and the poor, interior and coastal regions, and rural population and urban population are widening in the contemporary Chinese society. Good social policies and governance need to be implemented to solve their securities. In addition, compared to external defense, Chinas domestic instability presents more harm to the regime and its people. The economic and social development in China and a more opened political system also lead more and more people to participate in social movements to express their opinions and grievance. At the same time, they can also create the possibility of social upheaval, which the government need to consider seriously. In general, addressing security comprehensively is not only crucial for the sustainable development of China, but also important to under Chinese society and security studies in a worldwide dimension. This paper aims to explore the origin, components, and significance of comprehensive security (CS) and the implication to Chinas rise and policy response. In practical level, it will contribute to understanding Chinas various security challenges, which can also be applied to many other countries in the world.

2. The rise of comprehensive security

The concept of comprehensive security (CS) was first raised by Olaf Palme, the Swedish Prime Minister, at the Commission on Disarmament and Security Issues in 1981. Later, the idea of CS was given different meanings by both scholars and politicians. Academically, Hsiung (2004) argues that in addition to military security, economic, environmental and human dimensions should be subsumed under the rubric of comprehensive security. Radke and Feddema (2000) in their edited book Comprehensive Security in Asia argue that the meaning of comprehensive security goes far beyond requirements of military defense against a particular enemy, and stresses the need to take into account other aspects vital to national stability: food, energy, environment, communication and social security. They stress the need for confidence building methods as a requirement for its attainment and pertain to issues such as preventive diplomacy, energy security, transparency of international financial markets as means to enhance overall stability. Security studies should go beyond simplifications such as us and them. Quille (2004) in his article, which discusses European security strategy, also gives a notion comprehensive concept of security. He argues that Europe must meet challenges of poor governance, insecurity, poverty and conflict far beyond its borders, which it is well placed to do with a range of diplomatic, development, economic, humanitarian and military instruments. In addition, Khagram, Raad and Clark (2003) argue that comprehensive security is the broader view of state, human and environmental security combined. And it is necessary for lasting human security and should be linked to the more humanistic forms of sustainable development. All these comprehensive approach to security issues moves beyond a traditional military perspective. The concept of comprehensive security maintains a close tie with the process of globalization in the contemporary world. Globalization has been variously conceived as action at a distance, accelerating

36

Comprehensive security: Challenge for China in the age of globalization

interdependence, a shrinking world, time-space compression, global integration, and the reordering of interregional power relations (Harvey, 1989; Giddens, 1990; Held, et al., 2000). Recently, Anthony Giddens (2007) defines it as increasing interdependence between individuals, nations and regions. It does not just mean economic interdependence. Involves accelerated and universal communication, and concerns also political and cultural dimensions (2007, xii). Most of the authors agree, firstly, that globalization is a process and not a fixed model; and secondly, that the speed at which the world is changing is high. Globalization makes significant change on the relations among states and relations between states and individual citizens. State is no longer the center unit of analyzing security issues, but focus on the external community at large. Such as global warming and counterterrorism, no single state can solve the problem by itself. On the other hand, in the age of globalization, state sovereignty is no longer the primary concern of international community. Protecting the right and welfare of individual citizen in term of human security is reaching more and more consensus among states and international communities.4 Therefore, forming a concept of comprehensive security is necessary to perceive both the relations among states and individual citizen in the age of globalization. Enhancing the capability of CS by individual state will not create the traditional security problem like security dilemmas.5 The interplay of state relations requires states to face the same or similar security problem and work together to find solutions. Examples like the Asian Financial Crises (1997-1999) and SARS attacks in East and Southeast Asia in early 2003 affected not only single countries, but the whole regions. On the other hand, the more secured a single state is, the more secured for related states as a whole. The same example in the Asia Financial Crises, China insisted on maintaining the exchange rate of its currency RMB, preventing other Asian nations from suffering more during the crises. Therefore, to extend the concepts of security is necessary, but not enough. Security issues ought to be considered under the framework of a comprehensive perspective. Although the components of comprehensive security are various and also interacted, comprehensive security, by definition, is to consider the interplay of economic, environmental and human security, in addition to national security as a whole to analyze the securities issues of an individual state in the context of globalization. The author will briefly discuss each of the four components of comprehensive security and its impacts on security studies. (1) Economic security Many have written about economic power as one of the most important resources that determined the rise and fall of the empires in history. Paul Kennedy (1989) examined the reasons of the rise and fall of great powers in human history, and concluded that economic interest and capability is the decisive force for the prosperity of a great power. Military strength is the appearance and extension of economic power. Nowadays, James Hsiung (2004) argued that Geoeconomics has risen to even outweigh geopolitics as a desideratum determining a countrys national interest and its foreign policy behavior. After the Cold War, conflict and war in the scale of internationally have decreased substantively. On the macro level, manufacture, market, finance, and research and development (R&D) are transnationalized and eventually globalized. On the micro level, military power is important but not as crucial as before, and severs the means to achieve a better economic and social interest of the individual state. National power hence has a boarder meaning including technology, human development and the ability to achieve economic and social sustainability. Competitions among states are mainly reflected through
4

As defined by the United Nations Human Development Report of 1994, human security includes safety from chronic threats such as hunger, disease, and repression, as well as protection from sudden and harmful disruptions in the patterns of daily life. 5 Security dilemma is a phenomenon that first developed by John Herz (1950), Robert Jervis (1978) and Jack Snyder (1984), meaning that one states security may incur another states insecurity. 37

Comprehensive security: Challenge for China in the age of globalization

comprehensive national power, which economy plays a crucial role among it. However, globalization creates not only global market and competitions, but also global economic risk. The interdependence of states in global market requires states consider their economic policies in a global perspective. Hence, economic security for states plays a decisive role in the globalization of the world economy. (2) Environmental security During the Cold War, environmental concerns were rarely perceived as security problems. Since the 1990s, environmental and security linkages emerged as a topic of the conceptual and policy debate. Considering the human dimension of global environmental change has been drawn attention by numerous international organizations. The widening of the security concept has progressed concepts of environmental security. Growing impacts of environmental stress does not only appear locally, but also nationally, regionally and globally (Brauch, 2005). It includes issues such as resource depletion, energy shortage, water shortage, and scarcity of food, nonfuel minerals and population growth and rapid development of major cities. All these give challenge to the whole world. Hsiung (2004) considered environmental security concerns are not merely with how environmental degradation affects the ecosystems, but also with the challenge it presents to nations in their mutual relations. Environmental stress may lead to conflictual outcomes among states. However, Brauch (2005) pointed out that environmental stress might not lead to violence as the interaction between states, regime also matters in dealing with these challenges. And the UN can play a crucial role in terms of mitigating the potential threats and conflicts. A single environmental threat can potentially have adverse effects at the local level, state level, and regional state level and at the global level. Many environmental problems have no boundaries, such as the issues of global warming. There is no single country that can achieve its own environmental security. However, the suffering from environmental problem is measured in state level and local level in most of the cases. Water pollution and deforestation may lead to environmental change in a longer term, and then have a significant impact on the lives of people in the whole region. But the local people will suffer from the consequence at the beginning. Hence, to deal with the environmental security need to have a global view, but also need to act locally. (3) Human security Human security refers to the security of individuals and communities, expressed as both freedom from want, represented by the comprehensive UNDP and freedom from fear, represented by the Human Security Network (HSN). Intolerable threats to human security range from genocide and slavery through natural disasters, such as hurricanes or floods, to massive violations of the rights to food, health and housing (Kaldor, Martin & Selchow, 2007). The former Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan has referred on several occasions to the need for a human-centered approach to security.6 For him, human security can no longer be understood in purely military terms. Rather, it must encompass economic development, social justice, environmental protection, democratization, disarmament, and respect for human rights and the rule of law.7 However, within the social sciences and in international relations, the human security concept has remained controversial (Brauch, 2005). James Hsiung (2004) argues that human security and human development fall into a continuum concerning human well-being. Human security is often subject to domestic structural conflict, or inequities of society (such as gross inequality in income distribution), and brute atrocities by the victims own government, as has happened in Darfur and elsewhere. State terrorism is another form of assault on the sanctity of

6 7

UN SG Kofi Annan: Millenium Report, chp. 3, pp 43-44, at: http://www.un.org/millennium/sg/report/ Kofi Annan: Towards a Culture of Peace, at: http://www.unesco.org/opi/lettres/Text/Anglais/AnnanE.html .

38

Comprehensive security: Challenge for China in the age of globalization

human security. In general, human security maintains close linkage with both environmental dimension and sustainable development of human society. Towards a human security as freedom from hazard impact was developed by United Nations University. It would imply that people can mobilize their resources to address sustainable development goals rather than remain in the vicious cycle of the survival dilemma.8 (4) National security Instead of using the term of national defense or military security, the concept of national security includes not only the issues concerning military deterrence towards other nations, but also the issues concerning the internal security issues of states, such as terrorism and separatism inside a nation. Especially to non-democratic regimes and authoritarian regimes, regimes can collapse through many accidental issues happening inside the nations. Historically, social movement is one of the main causes of regime change and usually hard to predict its happening. Hence, the internal security is as important as external security to many states in the world. In conclusion, measuring securities from a comprehensive perspective is gaining importance in the twenty-first century. Traditional notions of security will be replaced by those four various aspects. On the other hand, there is no clear boundary among these security challenges. They are not only interplay but also cross-link in the process of globalization. States need a comprehensive and global perspective in dealing with issues concerning about security challenge in the twenty-first century. The importance of comprehensive security does not only depend on its concrete concepts, but also depend on considering security issues as global and comprehensive matters.

3. Security challenges to contemporary China

The rise of China in the twenty-first century has drawn great attention of both scholars and foreign policy-makers. The rise of China is not only economically, but also comprehensively. In terms of security studies, Chinas security issues will not only determine regional security in the coming decade. Its stability and security policy will also draw a significant level of concern from other states, and affect the future directions and management of EU and U.S. policy in the region. Chinese Government has recognized the necessities of building up comprehensive security strategies in a globalized world, but faces constantly challenges from both external and internal. However, for the past decade, the challenge for China was not national social movements as happened in 1989, or regional instability (except for the unrest in Tibet recently). On the other hand, the recent global financial crisis led by the U.S. sub-prime mortgages crisis, and the new round of currency inflation and the possibility of a hard-landing of Chinese economy. The SARS in 2003 and the snow storm in early 2008 exposed the lack of appropriate safeguards of human security in China. All these facts can be potential threats to Chinas security. Externally, although Chinese Government advocates its ascent as peaceful rising, the size and rapid growth of China, together with its increasing assertiveness, represent a challenge to the established world order. Chinas active policies of engagement with development countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America and its use of aid
8

Survival dilemma refers such extreme events often pose for the most vulnerable three no-win alternatives: (1) to die; (2) to be forced to move out and migrate; or (3) to struggle for their own survival and that of their families, village, or tribal community. See Brauch, Hans Gnter, 2004: From a Hobbesian Security to a Grotian Survival Dilemma, 40th Anniversary Conference of IPRA, Peace and Conflict in a Time of Globalisation, Sopron, Hungary, 5-9 July, at: http://www.afes-press.de/pdf/Sopron_Survival%20Dilemma.pdf. 39

Comprehensive security: Challenge for China in the age of globalization

and FDI as means of building political alliances are seen as acts of new colonialists by the West. Chinas perspective on human rights is attractive to states, such as Sudan and Zimbabwe, which have been pressured by western countries on their human rights records. On the energy perspective, China now is the worlds second-largest oil importer; and in 2007, it alone accounted for 31 percent of global growth in oil demand. The shortage of domestic natural resources and its extraordinary growth increases its dependence on foreign resources. The Chinese Government has developed a new sense of insecurity vis-a-vis the United States and European countries. In this section, I point out and examine the major security challenges that China is facing in terms of economic, environmental, human and national security in the context of globalization. And most of the problems are not limited to China alone, but bring challenge to other nations as well. 3.1 Economic security: The challenge of energy and technologiless industrialization The rise of China in the twenty-first century is not an assumption, but a reality that the other powerful countries, such as the U.S., need to face and deal with. In 2007, Chinas GDP in PPP reached $7.04 trillion, second largest in the world, after Americas $13.86 trillion in PPP.9 Chinas extraordinary economic growth during the past three decades and active diplomacy towards neighborhood countries are already transforming Pacific-Asia region, and future decades will see even greater increases in Chinese power and influence. On the other hand, Chinese economy has three characteristics that merit special attention and can be a potential security challenge. First, Chinas size matters. Its 1.3 billion people and huge domestic market will make China appear as an economic giant as a whole, but its GDP per capita remains low; Second, political stability is the precondition of its economic robustness. A strong central government and state-owned enterprises play crucial role in the Chinese economy. A political destabilization will matter hugely to its economic performance; Third, Chinese economy has relied primarily on manufacturing and exports of manufactured goods to North America and the European Union. China has relied heavily on exports of finished goods and labor-intensive goods. And it faces unprecedented transformation risk and still has a long way to go to become a world industrial center. On the other hand, its economic growth is exceptionally costly in terms of the energy and resources consumed. In addition to the risks and challenges above, Chinas financial sector is weak as well. It has emerged as the largest holder of foreign exchange reserves and US Treasury Bonds, which also means to share the risk of failure of other economies, such as the loss of recent US sub-prime crisis. Here the author considers the challenge of energy security and the technologiless industrialization, which means relying too much on cost-cutting competition in wage-intensive manufactured production, are the two largest threats to Chinas economy security in the near future. Foreign trade plays a decisive role in the Chinese economy, trade/GDP ratio in China is currently 70 percent. In 2004, China surpassed Japan as Asias biggest importer and exporter. Chinas abundant labor force with its respectable education and work ethic combined with continuing high levels of capital investment and a modern industrial infrastructure have turned China into the industrial workshop of the world. Based on comparative advantage, China continues to expand its production and the supply of low-skilled labor-intensive goods to the world economy. This presence in the international division of labor has led to a fundamental shift in relative prices. Low price becomes the brand for Chinese goods on the international market. On the one hand, Chinas rising supply of labor-intensive manufactured goods is lowering the world market prices of these goods. On the
9

The data is from CIA World Fact Books on https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/.

40

Comprehensive security: Challenge for China in the age of globalization

other hand, Chinas growing demand for energy, commodities and immediate inputs for processing is increasing the prices of these other products. In addition, Chinas growing demand for capital- and skill-intensive goods is raising prices for them too. FDI brings capital to China, but not much belongs to advanced technologies. Chinese factories provide labor force, but without its own brands and copyrights while producing those goods. From this sense, technologiless industrialization brings amounts of FDI in short terms, but also damages Chinas own R&D in the long term. The transformation from labor-intensive manufacture to skilled- and capital-intensive manufacture is one of the largest guarantees of Chinas economic security. Maintaining a close tie to the industrialization in Chinas economy, Chinas demand for energy, raw material and many other natural resources has grown more rapidly than their global availability. The result has been a significant price hike in none-renewable products like petroleum, copper and zinc. In the longer term, the higher costs will both stimulate new exploration and the search for substitutes. But at present, China has aggressively ventured worldwide to open up new sources of their energy and raw material needs, and to secure its energy security in the future. In 2004, China alone accounted for 31 percent of global growth in oil demand (Zweig & Bi, 2005). Chinas access to foreign resources is both for continued economic growth and for the stability of the whole regimebecause growth is always the guarantee of Chinas social development. In order to get natural resources without much competition with other western states, China on various occasions conflicted with international non-proliferation or human rights regimes, such as in its relations with countries like Sudan and Iran. On the one hand, it is essential that China be able to gain access to energy and resource markets on the basis of market price. On the other hand, its lack of participation in the international economy draws criticism from other nations, and requires China to help maintain a certain extent of responsibility for international security, peace and stability. It is a dilemma for China that if maintaining its own economic security, it advertently harms the regional, even international economic security. Although China has a right to pursue energy sources through market strategies, Chinese leadership are yet to understand that in order to maintain a sustainable energy supply and security, international image and cooperation is also crucial for achieving their goal. Trade-off, sometimes, needs to be made by both foreign and economic policy makers. 3.2 Environmental security: Chinas worsening pollution problem Related with Chinas economic achievements, its booming growth over the past two decades resulted in a wide range of devastating consequences for the environment that are having an increasingly adverse effect on the nations economy, public health and social stability. China is heavily dependent on coal and has seen its most rapid growth in some of the worlds most heavily polluting industrial sectors: cement, aluminum and plate glass. A study found that China has overtaken the United States as the worlds leading emitter of carbon dioxide, the main heat-trapping gas.10 China used to assert that poor countries with pressing demands to deed, clothe and house their people, should have the right to industrialize its economy and environmental costs of industrial production should be given tolerated by the international communities. On the other hand, the problems of water, air, noise pollution, of soil erosion, grassland degradation and desertification have grown to such an extent that Chinas environment has become a regional issue. The Korean Peninsular and large parts of Japan are suffering from acid rain and yellow sand storms. Indochina is complaining of Mekong resource depletion. Thus Chinas environment has a political and industrial dimension.
10

See the New York Times China Increases Lead as Biggest Carbon Dioxide Emitter on June 14, 2008. 41

Comprehensive security: Challenge for China in the age of globalization

Among those environmental challenges, the magnitude of the pollution problem in China is alarming the most. According to OECD Environmental Performance Review of China, air pollution in some Chinese cities reaches levels that are among the worst in the world; energy intensity is about 20 percent higher than the OECD average; and about a third of the watersheds are severely polluted. Challenges with waste management, desertification, and protection of nature and biodiversity persist (OECD, 2007). The impact of environmental degradation does not only engender economic losses, but threaten human health as well. Air pollution and water pollution are two major hazards affecting the nations health. China is home to 16 of the worlds 20 most airpolluted cities due to massive and unclean use of coal as Chinas primary energy source. Chinas severe air pollution has undoubtedly led to chronic lung diseases. Facing the challenge of environmental security, Chinese Government appears to understand the deleterious economic impact of pollution, few seem to have concerned about human health. Recent years, Chinese Government endorses the concepts of harmonious society and scientific development, which are in part reflections of a conscious effort to face the relation between humans and the environment. But two of Chinas agencies, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Environmental Protection, are still weak compared to other agencies, especially at the local government level. Developing the economy is still the primary concern of local governments, and environment and human health play a subordinate role to economic development. Another missing factor in Chinas response to the challenge of environmental health is public participation. There are few grassroots groups, such as civil society organizations working on environmental health-related issues. Without such groups, the Chinese public, as the primary victim of environmental health hazards and hence the party to yearn for a greater focus on cleaning up environmental health threats, has yet to gain a greater voice in environmental decision-making. Chinese Government should allow increased transparency regarding environmental pollutions impact on public health, especially at the local governmental level. On the other hand, expanding public participation in decision-making concerning human health issues will give pressure to local officials on environmental protection. Furthermore, solving problems of environmental challenge needs collaboration between China and international partners, such as the United States and European Union, which have better technologies and experience in dealing with these issues. China now needs a comprehensive, interagency and collaborative strategy to stop its environmental health crisis from getting worse, and to secure both its citizens health and its pace of development. 3.3 Human security: Poverty and inequality in China In China, humanitarian crisis has only remote memories before the economic reform started in late 1970s. But like in many developing countries, poverty is still a basic source of human insecurity. More than three decades rapid economic growth has lifted thousands of millions of people out of poverty. However, certain group of population has been marginalized, and suffered the pain of economic transition. Long term unemployed workers and low income households were still struggling. In addition, a growing degree of inequality is becoming the new threat of regime stability, the city rich and countryside poor, people in the east costal land and people in the remote area give new problem for Chinese society. A research by the Finance Ministry of China revealed a Gini Coefficient standing at 0.46 in 2005, well above the internationally recognized warning line of 0.4, which is comparable to many South American countries. Reducing poverty and dealing with income inequality is becoming the central task of Chinese Government while dealing with human security issues. At the beginning of Chinas economic reform in the late 1970s, the government promoted the idea of getting rich is glorious and allowing parts of the population to get rich first. The initial policy was to develop a market
42

Comprehensive security: Challenge for China in the age of globalization

economy and to create free market competition. When there are more and more people joining the middle-class and upper-class ranks, they will move forward the economy further ahead, eventually bringing prosperity to the whole nation. This policy worked in that it created an upper class of rich people in Chinese society. On the other hand, lacking a sound social welfare program made the idea of bringing prosperity to the whole nation a far-off goal yet to be reached. Nowadays, the government has already stopped mentioning the initial policy of getting rich is glorious. On the contrary, it promotes the idea of a harmonious society. Government policies change from purely promoting economic growth to also paying attention to social welfare, reducing the gaps among regions and between social classes. However, there is no denying that Chinese Government has achieved great success in reducing absolute poverty in Chinese society during the past two decades. The inequality problem in China has the following distinctions from other nations that also face the problem of poverty, like most countries in sub-Sahara Africa. The challenge of both poverty and income inequality in terms of human security requires the Chinese Government to reconsider its social policies and to put them into effect. Such challenges have several consequences for social policy. Firstly, the government cannot rely on itself to end the problem of poverty, but use more marketed mechanism to solve the problems. Secondly, the demanding of social development from the population has increased in addition to the economic development of household and individual, such as Hukou (household registration) ultimately sets a limit on further growth and threatens social stability. The government needs to put more financial resource and redistributed more to solve the current problem of economic and social inequality, and at the same time to create new mechanism to prevent further inequality from moving forward. Europe has done a better job in reducing poverty and controlling income inequality. The Chinese Government needs to learn and consider the European experience. On the other hand, a more open society, a prosperous civil society, and NGOsif they exist and function properlycan help move governmental social policy to a more humane approach, and be the watchdog of good governance. 3.4 National security: The challenge of regional instability and public protest The security challenge at the national level ranges widely from terrorism, nationalism, territorial issues, tensions in bilateral relationship, arms issues and internal instability. China, as a growing world power, faces all these forms of challenge both at the regional and global levels. China used to be free from terrorist attacks. However, in recent years, the rise of Islamist terrorists also threatens the security of China. The continuing Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan also fosters and strengthens the Islamic separatism in Chinas Xinjiang Autonomous Region. In addition, potentially, the Tibetan Youth Organization can organize terrorist attacks in China under its call for creating a free Tibet. The riot in Tibet in March 2008 has already alarmed the Chinese Government on the recurrence of this possibility in the future. In terms of security challenge from territorial issues and tensions in bilateral relationship, China is situated in one of the most dangerous regions in the world. It almost faces challenges and potential challenges from all its neighbor countries. Tensions in/across the Taiwan Strait have existed for more than half of a century. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula in recent years have become one of the hottest issues in international politics, due to North Koreas nuclear program. China has and had territorial disputes with Russia, Japan, India and several ASEAN countries. Although some of the disputes have been solved or are under negotiation, potential military conflicts still exist and can happen in response to vicissitudes in international politics. Public protest in contemporary China is increasing both in size and number at the local levels, almost covering all the regions of the country. Most of the social movements of protest in contemporary China took place
43

Comprehensive security: Challenge for China in the age of globalization

at the local level and were staged by the peasants and workers. Scholars usually consider that most of the social movements in contemporary china are legitimate acts of resistance. This means that in contemporary China, the main components that participated in social movements of protests were not elites, but people from the grassroots. Their demands were usually not for institutional change or democratization, but for protection by the government and that their voices to be heard. In contemporary China, in short, the main social movements of protest are geared toward economic and social issues and the relationship with the rule of law. The participants mainly come from the peasant and working classes. Economic rights, rather than political rights are what they are really concerned with. Social movements are hard to predict both in terms of cause and consequence, which is different from problems of external security that a state has time to respond. Dealing with issues concerning public protests in China is not just a matter of public order, but also concerns the regimes survival.

4. Conclusion
The context of security studies changes from time to time. However, the concept remained largely tied to military security (or national defense in the traditional sense), until the onset of unmitigated globalization following the end of the Cold War. The rise of a geoeconomic age makes nations conscious of their economic security, especially for countries that depend heavily on natural resources such as energy and steel. Deepening interdependence, buoyed by hi-tech consumption of natural resources and buffeted by the rapacious effects of industrial pollution, drove home the vital importance of environmental security. And, the disparate rates of development resulting in widening gaps between rich and poor nations, even inequities between segments within the same country, aroused an increasing awareness of social injustice threatening the social security of nations. Hence, the single dimension of military security (or national defense) loses most of its meaning in the contemporary world of the 21st century. A failed state can be the victim of various sources, ranging from financial breakdown, ecological disaster and deprivation, to man-made or natural humanitarian discomfitures, such as genocide and famine. Countries need to consider all these factors as a whole in making its security policies. Just as globalization is an open-ended process without definite directions, the concept of comprehensive security is also fluid, and may have different implications for various states. In terms of both its size and influence, China offers a good case study in attempts to scrutinize the real meanings of the concept of comprehensive security. As one of the fastest growing nations in the twenty-first century and a beneficiary of the on-going globalization process, it is likewise subject to challenges to its security on a comprehensive scale. Like most developing countries in the world, its ecosystem is fast deteriorating; its economy faces the transition from the initial relying on cheap labor to a high-scale stage involving intensive capital commitments, high tech, and in-house R&D. While absolute poverty is reducing, inequality has been on the rise. As the largest socialist state in the world, it is exploring the intricacies of an alternative social system to the western liberal democracy; and as such it faces a peculiar combination of security challenges from both external and internal sources. Thus far, China is able to maintain a strong economic growth path and a steady functioning political system amidst fast change. Understanding the security challenges in a comprehensive perspective is absolutely essential for finding the right policy on the question of comprehensive security in the sense as defined above. But, as in the traditional world, where a countrys security may be another countrys insecurity, such phenomenon of a security dilemma is likewise found in the age of comprehensive security. Just

44

Comprehensive security: Challenge for China in the age of globalization

witness how a fast rising China is viewed as a threat in more ways than one to many in the world, especially the West. It is a threat, for example, to the U.S.s economic security due to the latters perennial trade deficits and the many jobs said to have been lost to China. It is a threat to the environment because of its rapacious capacity in consuming energy (more especially coal, of which it has abundance). For its oft-criticized human-rights record and its alleged close ties to Sudan and Burma, China is considered a threat to human social security, etc.. From Chinas point of view, such criticisms constitute an insult to Chinas reputation and good name, smacking of defamation. In general, understanding the security challenges in a comprehensive perspective and find the solution on them will not only benefit China itself, but also benefit the world as a whole.
References: Anthony, G.. (1990). The consequences of modernity. Cambridge: Polity. Anthony, G.. (2007). Europe in the global age. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, xii. Bi, J. & Zweig, D.. (September/October 2005). Chinas global hunt for energy. Foreign Affairs. Brauch, H. G.. (2005). Environment and human security: Towards freedom from hazard impacts. Bonn, Germany: UNU-EHS Publications. Harvey, D.. (1989). The condition of post modernity. Oxford: Blackwell. Held, D. & Anthony, M.. (Eds.). (2000). The global transformations reader: An introduction to the globalization debate. Cambridge: Polity Press, 480. Hsiung, J. C.. (2004). Comprehensive security: Challenge for Pacific Asia. Indianapolis, IN: University of Indianapolis Press, 81. Khagram, S., Clark, W. C. & Firas, R. D.. (2003). From the environment and human security to sustainable security and development. Journal of Human Development, 4(2), 289-313. Kaldor, M., Martin, M. & Selchow, S.. (2007). Human security: A new strategic narrative for Europe. International Affairs, 83(2). Kennedy, P. M.. (1989). The rise and fall of the great powers: Economic change and military conflict from 1500 to 2000. New York: Vintage Books. Quille, G.. (2004). The European security strategy: A framework for EU security interests? International Peacekeeping, 11(3), 422-438. Radtke, K. W. & Feddema, R. (Eds.). (2000). Comprehensive security in Asia: Views from Asia and the West on a changing security environment. Leiden: Boston, MA: Brill.

(Edited by Sherry and Emma)

45

Copyright of Journal of US-China Public Administration is the property of David Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.