China’s security structure includes the following types of security: political, military, economic, cultural, and cyber security. In this context, it is important to emphasize the information provided about the country’s security in terms of military forces, which involves the China’s Ministry of National Defense. It is stated that in 2023, the county’s defense budget was at the level of RMB 1.55 trillion, with a focus on modernizing naval, air, and cyber defense. To achieve the targets set in this area, the National Security Council of China coordinates all security affairs ensuring the country’s political stability and social order.
Basic Framework of China’s Security
China’s security architecture is a multi-level and complex system involving a variety of internal and external factors. It is aimed to ensure sovereignty, territorial integrity, economic stability, as well as long-run social peace. China has developed a multi-vector and multi-dimensional security system, promoting military, economic, cultural and cyber security. First and foremost, military security is crucial in China’s security architecture.
China’s approach to defense is predominantly defensive once, seeking to ensure its sovereignty, territory, and maintain necessary defensive capabilities by modernized armed forces. According to official statistics, defense budget of China has reached nearly RMB 1.55 trillion, increasing by 7.1% in 2023, with steady growth of military spending every year. It highlights China’s emphasis on defense modernization, including the development of its naval, air and cyber capabilities, in consistence to today’s security environment.
Formerly, economic security of the country implies the capability of ensuring self-sufficiency in view of growing uncertainty of global economic circumstances. In this context, China seeks to prevent any influence on its supply of critical resources and technologies. In order to avoid implications if the international blocks foreign technology, China has already placed resolute efforts on local chip development as the outsourcing is recently stuck in its horns of dilemma.
Economic capacity is closely associated to ideological and cultural issues. One of the ways to ensure adequate level of social stability is to ensure unified ideology and promote mainstream values via education and the system of mass media. Over 2022, 8øø millions have visited all kinds of patriotic education bases in China as announced by the Ministry of Education, rising the flow of patriotic students and thus preserving an adequate level of social cohesion in 2022.
Which since recent times is considered an integral part of China’s security architecture. It has implemented a series of provisions in the Cyber security Law and other relevant regulations, in addition to enhancing associated technical measures. National Internet Emergency Response Centre has exposed that over 150 million cyber attacks were foiled in 2022 as proving a great advancement in cyber defense for china.
Key Forces in the Security System
China has built a security system that relies on the cooperation of several key forces, which are integral to maintaining stability and security amid internal and external challenges. The political leadership, military defense capabilities, economic security safeguards, and cybersecurity forces each carry out distinct functions that collectively contribute to a comprehensive security system. The political leadership of China plays a fundamental role in several ways.
Following the establishment of the National Security Council in 2014, the central government began to concentrate command over various security affairs, including military, discipline inspection, and human rights. As such, the National Security Council ensures that the military, law enforcement organizations, and other relevant security departments can promote a comprehensive command of these sectors. However, the council also serves the function of coordinating and leading the change and responses to today’s rapidly changing domestic and international situation. The consumption and execution of decrees by the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party ensure that overall security strategies are formulated by the council. The second-largest component of the security system is military defense, which is a traditional paradigm of security.
The modernization level of the People’s Liberation Army has been growing constantly in recent years, as advanced military technology and defense budget increases are transforming the PLA into a formidable in such areas as force size, organization structure, equipment, and technology. To ensure joint operations capabilities are growing across the army, navy, and air force, China has focused investments in information-based and intelligent warfare. The military has modernized the equipment, such as stealth fighters, missile defense systems, and aircraft carriers.
Forces in the form of economic security safeguards are also prominent in the context of China. The state is making an effort to build a solid economic foundation in order to react naturally to world economic instability and risks. This effort is particularly evident in the crucial areas of energy, food, and high-tech industries such as microchips, where there are many endeavors to ensure the security of supply of critical resources. In 2020, 650 million tons of grain were harvested in China, thus ensuring food safety despite the ongoing global food crisis. The state-bodied forces provide a feasible solution for safeguarding a state’s security and responding to emerging risks.
Application of Innovative Technologies in Security
China takes the innovation and application of technology in the national security architecture very seriously and regards it as an important support for strengthening national security. China continues to build a more intelligent and automated security defense system by continuously promoting technology innovation. Some technology innovations, such as AI, 5G communication, and big data analysis, are especially prevalent.
The application of artificial intelligence has enabled China’s security defense to achieve a qualitative leap. It can be seen that the AI technology supports the increment of the country’s security ability by facial recognition and smart camera monitoring. For example, in various transportation hubs and public places, numerous AI cameras are installed, which can monitor the crowd in real-time and analyze the type of person. Relevant statistics show that 600 million surveillance cameras in China in 2021 are supporting the country to maintain social security, and the number of public safety incidents is reduced.
5G communication technology has also greatly innovated in China’s security field. The characteristics of ultra-high speed and ultra-low latency provide faster and more reliable communication network support for various security systems. The PLA has been very high through the 5G network in data transmission speed and battlefield situation awareness. When complex situations occur, China high decision-making deployment capability is stable. 5G networks are also used by the building security system of the smart city, and the subsequent city management is more efficient and risk prediction is more accurate.
Big data analysis also plays a core role in the national security architecture. The rapid analysis and processing of a large amount of data enable China to more accurately discover and handle security issues. In 2020, China deeply analyzed and predicted the public health security of Big Data Technology. The infection person went to as 200 primary and secondary contacts and 70 terminal contacts Data shows that China’s epidemic tracking system has helped more than 200 million people in China to assess the risk of contracting, not only ensuring the health of the citizens but also the importance of technology in safe use.