China's 'Security First' Approach Under Xi Jinping Challenges Western Global Order
Under Xi Jinping, China has entered a 'security first' era, broadening the definition of security with his concept of 'holistic national security' since 2014. This approach integrates traditional and non-traditional security ideas, encompassing political, military, economic, cultural, social, science and technology, information, ecological, resource, and nuclear aspects. Chinese thinkers are focusing on 'struggle and survival' in a period of 'great changes unseen in a century,' a phrase popularized by political scientist Yuan Peng. This perspective views the world as entering a protracted period of disorder, with China aiming to build security from the ground up rather than relying on global institutions. Beijing is also promoting the 'democratization of the global order' as an asymmetrical response to what it perceives as Washington's system of international alliances, particularly by offering to protect the sovereignty of countries in the Global South and advocating for 'non-alignment' or 'multi-alignmen... 
