Chinese experts on Tuesday called on countries to strengthen international cooperation and pursue "upward balance" between national security and economic development.
They made the call at the ninth Paris Peace Forum, which was held on Tuesday and Wednesday under the theme From Sovereignty to Cooperation.
The event brought together government officials, representatives of international organizations, academics, business leaders, and civil society representatives to discuss global challenges.
China's delegation was led by Kong Quan, a former Chinese ambassador to France.
One of the major concerns to emerge at this year's forum is the growing challenge of reconciling countries' legitimate security concerns with the need to maintain openness and cooperation.
Cui Hongjian, a professor at the Academy of Regional and Global Governance at Beijing Foreign Studies University and a member of the Chinese delegation, told China Daily: "The question is how to maintain openness and cooperation while strengthening sovereignty. It is essentially a question of finding the right balance."
His preferred response is an approach called "upward balance", through which countries address security concerns but also continue to pursue economic development and international cooperation.
"That requires governments to recognize one another's concerns over economic security, industrial development and the stability of global supply chains, and to seek new common ground through dialogue," he said.
Rather than treating security and development as competing objectives, countries should pursue both through a dynamic process of adjustment, he said, listing China's emphasis on high-quality development and high-level opening-up as an example of reconciling the two objectives.
Cui contrasted his proposed "upward balance" with what he called a "downward balance", in which countries respond to security concerns by adopting increasingly restrictive, exclusionary, or confrontational policies.
"Some countries have placed excessive emphasis on achieving what they regard as absolute security, seeking to bring industrial activities, economic benefits, and strategic resources increasingly under their own control," he said, stressing that such policies risk fragmenting international markets and undermining the economic benefits of global specialization.
"The point of an upward balance is to avoid a situation in which both sides lose and instead strive for a better win-win outcome," he said.
Cui's emphasis on cooperation was echoed by Kong Tianping, a researcher at the Institute of European Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and another member of the Chinese delegation.
Referring to the forum's theme, From Sovereignty to Cooperation, Kong said the global geopolitical landscape has undergone profound changes in recent years, as intensifying geopolitical competition among major powers has affected countries around the world and prompted Europe and other regions to reconsider the meaning and importance of sovereignty.
Kong argued that emphasizing sovereignty alone would not provide solutions to the increasingly complex challenges confronting the international community. Instead, he said strengthening international cooperation is essential to addressing global challenges.
Cui also delivered a speech in the forum session titled Is There Still a Case for Global Cooperation on Mineral Resources? The session featured debates on geopolitics, emerging technologies, development, and environmental challenges.
Speaking about China's export controls on rare earths, Cui said the measures should be understood in the context of evolving security concerns and the management of strategic resources, rather than being regarded simply as restrictions on international trade.
He said rare earth materials are increasingly being used for military purposes, while existing international arms control arrangements have not fully addressed the implications of their expanding applications.
"Therefore, China must take into account its own production capacity, resource availability, and the overall functioning of industrial and supply chains," he said, adding that the management of rare earth exports therefore involves not only security and nonproliferation considerations, but also industrial development, resource allocation, and market supply and demand.
The issue is not about whether countries should protect their sovereignty, but how they can do so without undermining the cooperation on which their security and prosperity also depend, according to Cui and Kong.
zhangzhouxiang@chinadaily.com.cn
