The concept ofholistic national security (Chinese:总体国家安全观;pinyin:Zǒngtǐ guójiā ānquán guān), also translated ascomprehensive national security,[1] is a principle ofnational security policy defined byChinese Communist Partygeneral secretaryXi Jinping in 2014. A component ofXi Jinping Thought, it covers twenty areas. According to this principle, dimensions such as economic security, cybersecurity, andenergy security are viewed as necessary to traditional national security concerns.
Xi Jinping introduced the concept of holistic national security on 15 April 2014, which he defined as taking "the security of the people as compass, political security as its roots, economic security as its pillar, military security, cultural security, and cultural security as its protections, and that relies on the promotion of international security."[2]: 3 Holistic national security also emphasizes the need for energy security.[3]: 77 Xi createdNational Security Commission of the Chinese Communist Party, which focuses on holistic national security and addresses both external and internal security matters.[4]: 180 The concept has since been used as a tenet of the CCP'sGlobal Security Initiative.[5]
TheFourteenth Five-Year Plan discusses the holistic national security approach as part of the plan's "Integrated Approach to Security and Development."[6]: 123–124 It states that holistic national security "calls for the integration of national security imperatives into every aspect of national development, so as to be better able to implement our national security strategy, safeguard national security, respond effectively to both traditional and non-traditional security threats, and forestall any challenges to China's modernization."[6]: 134 It describes the strengthening of national security as requiring a holistic examination of "political security, which is of overarching importance, the security of the people, which is the ultimate concern, and economic security, which underpins all other considerations, to military, scientific and technological, cultural, and social perspectives, which reinforce efforts in other areas."[6]: 124
In April 2021, the Research Centre for a Holistic Approach to National Security was established at theChina Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR) in order to further develop the concept of holistic national security.[7]: 37 Yuan Peng was the centre's secretary general during his term as CICIR president.[7]: 37 Researchers at the Centre view "great economic change" as an important component of "great changes unseen in a century."[7]: 41 In a text issued in 2021, the Centre wrote that holistic national security threats are likely to emerge in "new frontiers" like polar regions, deep sea, the internet, artificial intelligence, and space.[7]: 49 In this view, the development of these new frontiers creates uncertainty because they do not have clear geographical borders and therefore transcend traditional ideas of sovereignty.[7]: 49 Thepolitical report of the20th CCP National Congress devoted a section to national security.[8] In 2025, theMinistry of National Defense released a white paper titled China's National Security in the New Era, which stated the goal of holistic national security was to "enhance the systemic, holistic, and coordinated nature of national security work and effectively wage a comprehensive national security campaign".[9]
The concept of holistic national security is a component ofXi Jinping Thought.[8] It covers twenty areas, including:[10][11]
The November 2021Resolution on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century describes holistic national security as encompassing "political, military, homeland security, economic, cultural, social, technological, cyberspace, ecological, resource, nuclear, overseas interests, outer space, deep sea, polar, and biological security issues, among others."[6]: 126–127 On 11 December 2020, at the 26th collective study session of the19th Politburo, General Secretary Xi Jinping put forwards the "ten insistences" for implementing the concept of holistic national security, the ten insistences are insisting on:[8]
