Since Chinese leader Xi Jinping launched the Global Security Initiative (GSI) in April 2022, it has been used in China’s efforts to expand its international security role and reshape global order. Drawing on field research and discussions with regional policymakers and experts, this report looks at Beijing’s progress in implementing and operationalizing the GSI in the priority regions of mainland Southeast Asia and Central Asia, and it examines key policy implications, explaining why the initiative warrants greater attention on the part of the US policy community.
Summary
- Announced in April 2022, the Global Security Initiative (GSI) embodies Xi Jinping’s vision for a new international order in which China plays a larger security role. The initiative is not only a rhetorical campaign to win international support but also an organizing framework within which Chinese security actors can deepen concrete security cooperation with other countries.
- China has prioritized its security relations in Southeast and Central Asia, and this is where the GSI has begun to manifest operational features, such as the development of military and security activities.
- Experts and policymakers from those regions highlight the perceived advantages of embracing the GSI. These include closer economic ties with China and direct and indirect assistance from China in confronting an array of traditional and nontraditional security threats.
- However, states in both regions are also wary of growing security dependency on China, which has itself been fomenting regional instabilities—particularly given the uncertainty of the GSI’s goals and future course.
- The United States needs to acquire a clear understanding of the GSI’s goals and impacts and to recalibrate US policy in Southeast and Central Asia accordingly.
About the Report
This report is part of an initiative launched by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) to assess China’s Global Strategic Initiative (GSI) and its implications for US policy. Based on high-level discussions with interlocutors from Southeast and Central Asia and other field research, the report examines how those two regions have responded to Beijing’s efforts to promote the GSI.
About the Authors
Bates Gill is a senior fellow with the National Bureau of Asian Research, a senior associate fellow with the Royal United Services Institute, and an honorary professor at Macquarie University. Carla P. Freeman is a senior expert for China at USIP. Alison McFarland is a program specialist for research with USIP’s China program and a graduate student in the politics department at Princeton University.