Chinese President Xi Jinping says his country’s national security issues have become ‘significantly more complex and difficult’. Beijing makes no mention of disengagement in its statement after the 27th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination, aka WMCC, on India-China border affairs. The Chinese defence minister blames the United States for practising ‘hegemony’ at the Shangri-La Dialogue. Chinascope examines a tense week where the US and China came close to conflict – while trying to avoid war.
China over the week
The National Security Commission is a signature institution of Xi’s era. The Commission held its first meeting on 30 May under the 20th Party Congress – a significant development this week. During the meeting, Xi emphasised the need to prepare for extreme situations while underlining the threat posed by artificial intelligence.
“We must adhere to bottom-line thinking and worst-case scenario thinking, and prepare to endure severe tests even in high winds and rough seas”, reads a translation of Xi’s comments by veteran China watcher Bill Bishop.
Xi wants to shape the external security environment that is beneficial to China.
“The meeting pointed out that it is necessary to guarantee the new development pattern with the new security pattern, actively shape an external security environment that is beneficial to us, better maintain open security, and promote the deep integration of development and security,” the Chinese premier said during the meeting.
Further, the meeting emphasised the growing threat posed by artificial intelligence and effectively maintaining political security, improving network data and artificial intelligence security governance.
Beijing has been concerned about the emergence of generative AI – such as ChatGPT – and banned some of the early versions of the technology.
There is growing speculation that Xi has promoted Cai Qi, a Politburo Standing Committee member and Xi’s chief of staff, as the head of the office of the National Security Commission.
The readout of the meeting has said the commission emphasised accelerating the “construction of the National Security Risk Monitoring and Early Warning System.” We don’t know the details about this system, but in recent years, Beijing has invested in technology to solve national security problems.
Xi also focused on China’s borders while discussing to “actively shaping an external security environment”.
On 31 May, India and China held the 27th meeting of WMCC in New Delhi. The 26th edition was held on 22 February in the Indian capital.
Though the statement by India said the two sides discussed proposals for disengagement in remaining areas “in a frank and open manner,” the Chinese side’s statement only mentioned promoting the de-escalation of the border situation and settling relevant issues in the western section of China-India border areas – leaving out disengagement.
If you read China’s statements after the commander-level talks and the WMCC meetings, the word ‘disengagement’ has slowly disappeared since 2022. Beijing continues to push the goalpost, and achieving disengagement in remaining areas – including Depsang and Demchok – may not be achievable without diplomatic or military leverage.
Beijing will increasingly use the talks to stall any disengagement actions and keep New Delhi from finding its ultimate leverage.
The ghastly train crash of the Coromandel Express in Balasore, Odisha, has also made it to the top headlines in China.
The hashtag “train crash in India kills more than 300” was the number one trend on the search engine Baidu on Saturday.
Another hashtag, “India train crash kills 288”, was viewed 190 million times.
On Saturday evening, Xi sent his condolences to Indian President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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China in world news
Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu accused the US of practising “double standards” by forcing its rules on others in the name of “rules-based international order” at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue.
Li called the freedom of navigation operations by the US and its allies a form of “hegemony”.
The clash between the US and Chinese defence officials was expected as the relations between the two superpowers are at their lowest point since 1979.
Singapore was dubbed the ‘Vienna of Asia’ by some experts. The city-State is increasingly mediating geopolitical tensions between the US and China, living up to the status once again with the annual Shangri-La Dialogue.
But the message that rang alarm bells in some observers’ ears was Li’s comments on Taiwan.
“If anyone dares to separate Taiwan from China, the Chinese military will not hesitate for a second; we will fear no opponents and resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity regardless of any cost,” said Li in his remarks.
If we closely read what Li said in Singapore, there wasn’t anything new about Beijing’s position on its relations with the US and its position on Taiwan.
But Li emphasised that a confrontation between the US and China would be an “unbearable disaster for the world” – something we should definitely note.
The US-China face-off in Singapore wasn’t just about the hot-air rhetoric. While the dialogue was underway, a Chinese warship came close to hitting a US destroyer in the Taiwan Strait while conducting a joint US-Canada freedom of navigation mission.
Journalists from Canada’s Global News even recorded the near collision on camera while travelling on the HMCS Montreal frigate on 25 May as part of a media crew.
The encounter between US and Chinese military is the second incident in just a week. On 30 May, the Pentagon released a video of the People’s Liberation Army’s J-16 jet conducting aggressive manoeuvres in the air against the US’ RC-135.
The two incidents show that US-China tensions have come close to conflict despite the Joe Biden administration’s attempts to seek dialogue with Beijing.
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The author is a columnist and a freelance journalist. He was previously a China media journalist at the BBC World Service. He is currently a MOFA Taiwan Fellow based in Taipei and tweets @aadilbrar. Views are personal.
(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)