Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday proposed a “global security initiative” that upholds the principle of “indivisible security”, a concept also endorsed by Russia, although he gave no details of how it would be implemented.
During a video speech to the annual Boao Asia Forum, Xi said that the world should respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, while paying attention to the “legitimate” security concerns of all.
“We should uphold the principle of indivisibility of security, build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture, and oppose the building of national security on the basis of insecurity in other countries,” Xi told the gathering on the southern Chinese island of Hainan.
In talks over Ukraine, Russia has insisted that Western governments respect a 1999 agreement based on the principle of “indivisible security” that no country can strengthen its own security at the expense of others.
China and Russia have grown increasingly close, and China has refused to condemn Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special operation” to demilitarise the country. China has blamed the Ukraine crisis on NATO’s eastward expansion.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price, responding to a question about Xi’s speech at a regular briefing in Washington, said China continued to “parrot some of what we have heard coming from the Kremlin”, including the concept of “indivisible security.”
Price reiterated that China would face serious consequences if it gave material support for Russia’s war effort in Ukraine, but that Washington had not yet seen Beijing provide that kind of assistance to Moscow.
The United States would continue to uphold the rules-based international system it had built with like-minded partners based on respect for human rights, sovereignty, and self-determination, Price said.
