Xi's security outlook

Since President Xi Jinping made the remark that no one in the international community should be allowed to throw a region or the whole world into chaos for selfish gains, there has been much speculation about which country or countries he was referring to. Instead of playing this guessing game, it would be more meaningful to pay attention to the vision of security that China's new leader presented.

Xi made the remark on Sunday when delivering a keynote speech at the annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia. Elaborating China's views on peace and security, Xi urged the world community to work together for comprehensive security, common security and cooperative security so as to build the global village into a big stage for common development, rather than a venue where gladiators fight each other.

This new concept of shared security is in stark contrast to the parochial approach, which tends to view security based on one's own interests and needs. Driven by such an undesirable approach, a country will always calculate its own gains first whenever there is a regional or global security crisis.