Xi’s “Global Security Initiative” looks to counter Quad

A new Global Security Initiative put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping will look to counter the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy and the Quad, according to Chinese officials.

A new Global Security Initiative put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping will look to counter the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy and the Quad – the India, U.S., Australia, Japan grouping – according to Chinese officials.

Mr. Xi last week first proposed what he called a Global Security Initiative, speaking at the Boao Forum in China, warning against “hegemonism, power politics and bloc confrontation”.

“China would like to propose a Global Security Initiative, that is, to stay committed to the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security,” he said, which would “oppose unilateralism, and say no to group politics and bloc confrontation.”

Specifically, he said this would “oppose the wanton use of unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction”, appearing to refer to Western sanctions.

Further fleshing out what this Global Security Initiative would entail, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi earlier this week penned an article in the official People’s Daily outlining key principles of the idea.

He said “some countries” were “eager to engage in exclusive ‘small circles’ and ‘small groups’”, terms Chinese officials have used previously to describe the Quad as well as the AUKUS (Australia-U.K.-U.S.) security pact.

In the article, Mr. Wang said China’s proposed security initiative would “oppose” what he called “the destruction of the international order under the banner of so-called ‘rules’ and the dragging of the world under the cloud of the ‘new cold war’”, and would “build an Asian security model of mutual respect, openness and integration”.