China presents its vision of global military-political environment

Russia and China keep actively strengthening their strategic partnership and develop comprehensive interaction despite global turbulence and unpredictability. This was once again confirmed during the visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Moscow on December 1 to 2.

His meetings with Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov featured the most pressing issues of bilateral cooperation and international agenda, reportedly with an emphasis on coordinating and protecting common interests in international security. Following the talks, the sides noted a broad coincidence or proximity on all key areas of bilateral interaction and global agenda.

In this context, let’s note that right on the eve of Wang Yi's visit to Moscow, a document titled "Arms Control, Disarmament, and Nonproliferation in the New Era" was published in China. This White Paper, as the document is also called, systematically outlines China's approach to international security and developments in arms control. Given the current geopolitical situation, the US intent to resume nuclear testing, and the fact that Western policies have practically led to the collapse of the arms control system, China's stance, as set out in the White Paper, cannot but attract heightened attention. Especially since this is the first document of the level over the past two decades.

It specifically notes that the world remains fragile, wars continue, and regional conflicts are becoming more frequent. Today, humanity once again faces a choice between peace and war, dialogue and confrontation, mutually beneficial cooperation and a zero-sum game. One of the reasons for this, interestingly, the authors of the White Paper do not explicitly name the United States, using phrases like "one country" and "a certain country," is that this nation seeks absolute strategic superiority by constantly increasing armaments, enhancing combat readiness, and provoking bloc confrontation.

"In particular, this country has strengthened military alliances in the Asia-Pacific region, exercised extended deterrence, and forward-deployed ground-based intermediate-range missiles, provoking tension and opposition and severely undermining the security and interests of countries in the region," the document emphasizes.

This certain country, the document further notes, continues to adjust its nuclear policy, stubbornly maintaining a huge stockpile of nuclear weapons and further strengthening its nuclear deterrence and warfighting capabilities. This has led to an increased risk of global nuclear conflict. Meanwhile, missile defense technologies are rapidly developing, and the military use of new domains such as space, cyberspace, and artificial intelligence is gaining momentum. All these factors are altering traditional dynamics of strategic offense and defense, creating new challenges for global strategic stability.

Under these conditions, the White Paper concludes, one has to urgently reinvigorate multilateral arms control and strengthen the foundation for peaceful development.

As for China, the White Paper states it remains committed to peaceful development and will never seek hegemony or expansion. Its national security policy, which includes building a strong military, is defensive in nature. In confirmation, it cites the defense budget, which, compared to the US and other major military powers, remains relatively low both as a percentage of GDP and total budget expenditures, as well as per capita and per service member.

The White Paper emphasizes that China firmly adheres to a policy of no-first-use of nuclear weapons and a nuclear strategy of self-defense. It states that China was forced to make a strategic choice to develop nuclear weapons at a certain historical moment to counter nuclear threats and blackmail, break the existing nuclear monopoly, and prevent nuclear war.

Notably, the document does not provide data on the quantitative status of China's nuclear arsenal. According to SIPRI estimates, China currently possesses 600 nuclear warheads. But as emphasized in the White Paper, those are not intended to threaten other countries but for defense and self-protection. China has never used nuclear weapons to threaten others, deployed nuclear weapons outside its territory, or provided a nuclear umbrella to any other country.

"In order to demonstrate its determination to avoid provoking a nuclear arms race, China has conducted the smallest number of nuclear tests among all nuclear-weapon states, and has closed down its nuclear weapon research and production facilities in areas including Chongqing and Qinghai," the Paper notes.

At the same time, the document states that while building a lean and effective nuclear force system, China is improving its capabilities in strategic early warning, command and control, missile defense penetration, and rapid response. This is dictated by the need to ensure the safety, reliability, and effectiveness of its nuclear weapons and to deter other countries from using or threatening to use nuclear weapons against China.

Simultaneously, China advocates that all nuclear-armed states unequivocally commit to not seeking permanent possession of nuclear weapons and strive to conclude a legal instrument for the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of such weapons. Beijing believes that if the five nuclear-armed states — China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US — can reach a consensus on mutually refraining from being the first to use nuclear weapons, it will help reduce strategic risks, prevent a nuclear arms race, and strengthen global strategic balance and stability.

Among other things, the White Paper raises the issue of missiles and missile defense, which significantly impacts global strategic balance and stability. Evidence of this includes the withdrawal of the US — again referred to as "the certain country" in the White Paper — from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and Washington's development of global strategic missile defense capabilities, deliberately blurring the line between missile defense and strategic attack and stoking confrontation among major powers. This has seriously undermined strategic mutual trust, increased strategic risks, and harmed global and regional security and stability.

Currently, "in pursuit of absolute security, this certain country has advanced the Golden Dome global missile defense system without restraint and sought to deploy weapons in outer space, severely threatening outer space security. It has promoted the forward deployment of intermediate-range missile systems in the Asia-Pacific region and Europe and leveraged the military alliance system to facilitate the proliferation of related weapon systems and technologies, undermining the global strategic balance and stability," the White Paper states.

China firmly opposes measures of the kind and urges the US to stop building and deploying global missile defense systems, as well as offensive weapons, missiles included. The White Paper emphasizes that China's development of missile technologies and missile defense capabilities is solely motivated by self-defense considerations and is not targeted at any country or region.

Conventional arms have not been forgotten either. In particular, the Paper states that China firmly supports global conventional arms control. It fully participates in relevant UN mechanisms and advocates strengthening and continuously improving international legal mechanisms for conventional arms control based on balancing the legitimate security needs of all countries and humanitarian considerations.

An important innovation in the current White Paper is consideration of new technologies and battlefields, referring to space, cyberspace, and artificial intelligence. These are classified as "new frontiers" of strategic security and the creation of a global governance system and standards for their use.

Regarding space, the document states that China firmly opposes offensive space military policies, creation of relevant alliances, militarization of space, any attempts to turn it into a new theater of war, and any arms race in space. It objects to the use of commercial space activities to interfere in armed conflicts or the internal affairs of other countries.

Discussing cyberspace, the authors emphasize that its peaceful use serves the common interests of humanity and it should not be turned into a new theater of geopolitical conflict. China opposes attempts to "seize the domain" from a position of strength and the conduct of large-scale, systematic, and indiscriminate thefts and cyberattacks worldwide. It condemns unwarranted cyberattacks on other countries' critical infrastructure, which puts global critical infrastructure at serious risk.

Regarding the military application of artificial intelligence, China believes it must never threaten human well-being. Human control must be maintained, and it is people, not weapons, who should decide the outcome of war. A crucial thing is to ensure full human responsibility and that all relevant weapon systems are under human control to prevent unauthorized action. Therefore, the introduction of AI in the military sphere must, the White Paper emphasizes, comply with international humanitarian law and other applicable international laws.