China’s Security Protection of Chinese Nationals in the Middle East

Strengthening the security protection of overseas Chinese is an important means for China to safeguard its overseas interests.The Middle East is in turmoil with frequent security incidents involving Chinese nationals and their assets.Ensuring the safety of Chinese natioanls is an important part of promoting the sound development of China and the Middle East relations.Drawing on the questionnaire survey,this paper examines the security threats and risks faced by Chinese nationals in some Middle Eastern states,and seeks to explore how China might enhance its security protection capability accordingly for Chinese nationals in the Middle East.It shows that the Chinese government has taken a series of measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese nationals,by strengthening the top-level design and mechanism coordination,improving the consular protection system and overseas evacuation capabilities,and participating in security governance and non-traditional security cooperation in the Middle East.

A Theoretical Outline for National Security Studies for the New Era

China is tasked with attaining the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and facing global changes unseen in a century.To this end,a pressing task for China’s national security studies in the new era,under the guidance of a holistic concept of national security,is to provide an analytical framework and scholarly insights.Seven theoretical propositions can be derived when we clarify the relationships between security level,security capability,and security threats.They are:absolute security is out of reach;growing security investment that eyes absolute security will create a security dilemma;under closed conditions,the country should put the brakes on building relative security when it achieves equilibrium security;under open conditions,hegemonic powers may generate security capabilities that exceed equilibrium security and tend to“protect”or prey on countries whose development has relatively high output efficiency rather than those whose security capabilities have relatively high output efficiency;and following separate technical routes for dealing with intentional and unintentional threats may achieve a higher security level than managing in an undifferentiated way.The“Great Yu Improvement”pattern is pivotal to“Building a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind”as it can transform other actors’capacity to address intentional threats into a capacity for shielding oneself against unintentional threats;and appropriate allocation of excessive security capability and stronger national system security capability are major solutions to the uncertain nature of security threats.