In 2014, President Xi Jinping introduced the concept of ‘Overall National Security’ or comprehensive national security, marking a significant shift in China’s security paradigm beyond traditional military concerns. China’s evolving security posture today is no longer merely a response to external pressures or internal vulnerabilities. Security itself has become the organizing logic of governance, ideology, and development. The release of the May 2025 White Paper titled “China’s National Security in the New Era” by the State Council Information Office reaffirms this securitizing trend. This new White Paper, which outlines China’s first-ever Overall National Security Strategy (ONSS)^[1], incorporates a holistic approach that integrates political, economic, military, cultural, and ecological dimensions into a unified framework of national security.

China’s pursuit of autonomy in food, water, energy, digital ecosystems, and rare earths- signals a deeper divergence from liberal globalization. While Beijing continues to rhetorically embrace openness, it does so selectively and instrumentally. The goal is to remain integrated enough to trade value from technologies, capital, or markets, while fortifying the core against external coercion. This posture of “reverse decoupling” allows China to gradually detach from global dependencies while leveraging international tools from SWIFT to open-source models.

The timing of the White Paper’s release is strategic. It reflects a choreographed effort to portray the Party as prescient and unified, while tightening the internal-external feedback loop. Internally, the document appears amid mounting economic challenges and a need to restore confidence in governance. Externally, it coincides with intensifying global fragmentation and uncertainties surrounding President Trump’s policy trajectory. The English-language abstract of the 2025 White Paper reveals careful diplomatic choreography, designed to reassure the international community. It reiterates non-negotiable red lines — particularly on Taiwan, Xinjiang, Tibet, and the South China Sea — while avoiding inflammatory rhetoric. The text underscores support for multilateralism, the UN-centred order, and international law — but with a firm call to better represent the Global South.

Earlier White Papers on Security

Unlike the United States, which periodically releases a singular National Security Strategy (NSS), China adopts a dispersed yet authoritative approach to articulating its security vision through defence White Papers, national laws, and Communist Party documents.

China’s official Defense White Papers, issued by the State Council Information Office, offer insights into its strategic environment and military posture. Since the inaugural China’s National Defense White Paper in 1998, subsequent editions (e.g., 2000, 2002, 2004) have followed a semi-regular cadence. The 2013 White Paper, The Diversified Employment of China’s Armed Forces, marked a doctrinal expansion, while the 2015 paper, China’s Military Strategy, articulated key military concepts such as “active defense” and “informationized warfare.” The most recent, China’s National Defense in the New Era (2019), reflected Xi-era priorities of military modernization and global responsibilities.

In parallel, a suite of national security-related laws has been enacted, especially after the 2014 articulation of the Overall National Security Concept. The 2015 National Security Law institutionalized a broad, indivisible vision of security, encompassing political, economic, cultural, social, and technological dimensions. Additional laws followed: the Counter-Terrorism Law (2015), Cybersecurity Law (2016), Intelligence Law (2017), National Defense Transportation Law (2018), Data Security Law (2021), Personal Information Protection Law (2021), and the expanded Counter-Espionage Law (2023). Collectively, these laws entrench national security logic across civilian, digital, legal, and economic domains.

The ideological foundation of China’s security thinking is captured in Communist Party policy documents and doctrinal innovations, particularly those introduced by Xi Jinping. Xi first proposed the Overall National Security Concept at the 2014 inaugural meeting of the Central National Security Commission. This was followed by the formal embedding of Xi Jinping Thought on National Security, which has been institutionalized through cadre education and state governance. The 19th Party Congress (2017) highlighted “civil-military fusion,” while the 20th Party Congress (2022) elevated security as the apex priority, emphasizing resilience, struggle, and technological autonomy. In 2023, the Study Outline of Xi Jinping Thought on National Security was released — the first systematic codification of Xi’s security doctrine, listing 16 or more security domains from political and military to cyber and overseas interests.

From Reaction to Pre-emption: The Shift in Chinese Strategic Thinking

Contrary to portrayals of a reactive regime, the 2025 ONSS reveals a proactive and pre-emptive approach to national risk. China seeks not just to manage shocks but to shape them- embed resilience so deeply into the system that vulnerabilities are neutralized before threats emerge. Whereas Western NSS documents often focus on military deterrence or crisis management, China’s ONSS adopts a systems-level approach involving civil-military fusion, legal reengineering, surveillance integration, and ideological consolidation. Xi Jinping’s concept of 斗争 (douzheng) — continuous struggle — undergirds this thinking, casting security as an endless process of vigilance, adaptation, and centralization.

Thematic Pillars of the 2025 ONSS

Political Security

The ONSS emphasizes vigilance against “colour revolutions,” with AI-generated synthetic media identified as a major threat. Political security now includes pre-emptively sealing the domestic cognitive space from ideological infiltration.

Territorial Security

New terms like “blue national territory” and “polar sovereignty interests” indicate expanded strategic stakes in maritime and polar regions, reflecting ambitions in the Arctic and deep-sea domains.

Military Security

While traditional military defense remains central, new emphasis is placed on space, AI, cyber, and electromagnetic conflict — all bundled under “strategic initiative” and “domain dominance.”

Economic Security

The ONSS introduces the concept of a “reverse decoupling resistance system”, highlighting efforts to pre-empt economic coercion by building autonomous value chains. “Capital security” is flagged amid fears of financial weaponization.

Cultural Security

The concept of “narrative sovereignty” emerges as China seeks to shape global discourse and legitimize its rise through control over storytelling and digital ecosystems.

Social Security

The ONSS addresses “youth ideological deviation” and even “psychological security,” treating mental health and ideological cohesion as national security concerns.

Scientific and Technological Security

New terminology such as “algorithmic sovereignty” and “data mobility risk” suggests a shift from IP protection to securing AI architectures and data ecosystems.

Cybersecurity

Beyond defense, the ONSS references “invisible control over key nodes in the digital chain,” signalling ambitions for digital infrastructure dominance.

Ecological Security

The strategy integrates climate issues into geopolitical planning, identifying “climate-linked geopolitical tensions” — especially in South and Southeast Asia — as risk accelerants.

Resource Security

Language around “resource corridors” and “choke-point avoidance” links infrastructure, finance, and strategic deterrence — from deep-sea mining to African energy.

Nuclear Security

The ONSS emphasizes “full-spectrum strategic deterrence,” including non-kinetic threats such as cyber-sabotage of nuclear command systems.

Overseas Interests Security

The document addresses transnational grey-zone threat actors near Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) assets, advocating for overseas surveillance and real-time security infrastructure.

Space Security

China aims for “space situational awareness dominance”, extending ambitions from satellite safety to real-time orbital intelligence and counter-space capabilities.

Deep Sea Security

The ONSS envisions the deep sea as a new domain of strategic competition — with ambitions in cables, rare earths, and submarine surveillance.

Polar Security

The call for Arctic observation and logistics bases with security integration institutionalizes dual-use infrastructure in polar zones.

Biological Security

Biosecurity is reframed to include genetic data, synthetic biology, and “bio-future scenario deterrence” — highlighting concerns about biotechnology warfare.

Implications for India

China’s ONSS represents not episodic militarization but the construction of a permanent securitized state, with long-term systemic implications. Beijing is preparing for prolonged contestation, not crisis management. India must therefore develop counter-resilience — the ability to shape, absorb, and adapt to enduring strategic rivalry. This requires:

• Narrative engagement, especially across the Global South
• Technological and legal resilience in critical infrastructure
• Real-time domain monitoring — from space to cyber
• Coordinated regional and multilateral frameworks
• Cognitive preparedness for emerging non-traditional threats

The ONSS reveals a China whose security philosophy is totalizing, anticipatory, and global. India must read the signals clearly — and act systemically.

References

^[1] China's National Security in the New Era, http://www.scio.gov.cn/zfbps/zfbps_2279/202505/t20250512_894771.html

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