National security has been elevated to new heights as China embarks on a new journey to build a modern socialist country in all respects. In the report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), national security was described as "the bedrock of national rejuvenation," and social stability as "a prerequisite for building a strong and prosperous China."

The twice-a-decade CPC document considered the people's security as the ultimate goal, political security as the fundamental task, economic security as the foundation, military, technological, cultural and social security as important pillars, and international security as a support.

Over the past century, China has grown from a semicolonial and semifeudal society to an economic powerhouse standing on its own feet under the CPC's leadership. But in today's turbulent and volatile global environment, the country faces myriad challenges and risks with the potential to upset its hard-won fruits of labor. As a safer China paves the way for its new pattern of growth, ensuring the country's national security is of greater significance and thus a priority for the CPC on this new journey.

"We will take coordinated steps to ensure external and internal security, homeland and public security, traditional and non-traditional security, and our own security and common security," the report said.

Safer China

The CPC's new path was carved out on the back of countless breakthroughs China has made over the past decade, with many areas concerning national security and social stability being drastically strengthened.

China is widely acknowledged as one of the safest countries in the world, Xu Ganlu, vice minister of public security, told a press conference last month.

As one of the countries with the lowest homicide rate and the lowest number of gun- and explosives-related cases, China has witnessed significant drops in the numbers of criminal cases and safety accidents over the past decade.

According to Xu, the number of major criminal acts including homicides and rapes in 2021 was 64.4 percent lower than that of 2012, while the numbers of drug-related crimes, robberies and thefts also dropped by 56.8 percent, 96.1 percent and 62.6 percent, respectively.

In a survey conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics in 2021, some 98.6 percent of those polled felt safe living in China, up by 11 percentage points from 2012.

Apart from public security, strides have also been made in other domains such as food security.

"During the past 10 years, China has cultivated and promoted a number of high-yielding, high-quality, multi-resistant and widely adapted seeds, with the farmland area of independently developed crops accounting for more than 95 percent," Deng Xiaogang, vice minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said at a press conference in June.

Deng said that China has around 900 million mu (60 million hectares) of high-standard farmland, with improved supporting irrigation water facilities.

The country's grain production capacity has increased steadily, with output exceeding 1.3 trillion jin (650 million tonnes) for seven consecutive years. It also reached a record high of 1.37 trillion jin in 2021, with per capita grain resources reaching 483 kilograms.

With a sound food security situation, "China has guaranteed that its food supply remains firmly in its own hands," Cong Liang, head of the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration, told a press conference last month.

Holistic approach

With these breakthroughs paving the way for a bright start on the new journey, China aims to take a holistic approach to national security while modernizing its system and capacity, which experts say is an important safeguard for the steady progression of Chinese modernization.

The report's highlighting of national security from a strategic perspective of coordinating development and security demonstrates the crucial importance of such an issue in the overall work of the Party and the country, Fu Xiaoqiang, vice-president of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told local media.

In its reference to security issues such as food and energy, the report emphasized the need to ensure them both domestically and externally, a point further embodying China's holistic approach.

Take food security for example: China needs not only to establish a sufficient supply on its own but also to actively participate in international cooperation and global governance of food security, Fu added.

China's strategic thinking on its holistic approach to security issues also has profound inspiration for a world that is undergoing deep changes. Observers have noted that the China-proposed Global Security Initiative stresses precisely the strategic significance of security to global development and the idea of peaceful cooperation that transcends the hegemonic logic as well as the zero-sum Western tradition.

The initiative is aimed at promoting a world of universal security and common development.