President Xi’s Global Security Initiative gaining traction

In a world of change and disorder on the security front, President Xi Jinping has put forward the important Global Security Initiative (GSI), calling on countries to adapt to the profoundly changing international landscape in the spirit of solidarity, and address the complex and intertwined security challenges with a win-win mindset.

The GSI aims to eliminate the root causes of international conflicts, improve global security governance, encourage joint international efforts to bring more stability and certainty to a volatile and changing era, and promote durable peace and development in the world. This major initiative has been widely commended and warmly received by the international community, among which more than 80 countries and a number of international organizations have expressed appreciation and support.

As the initiator of the GSI, China has taken real actions to implement it. We are committed to the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. We have had in-depth exchanges and communication on security concepts and policies with other parties to beat swords into plowshares and work for shared security. Not long ago, China issued the Global Security Initiative Concept Paper to further elaborate on the initiative’s core ideas and principles as well as the priorities, platforms and mechanisms of cooperation. rate. In the first quarter, the value added of the service sector grew 5.4% year on year, 3.1 percentage points higher than that in the fourth quarter of last year. The service sector, with faceto-face engagements among a significant number of people, previously hit hard by COVID-19, has especially recovered very fast.

China has actively engaged in mediation diplomacy and made unremitting efforts for the political settlement of hotspot issues including the Iranian nuclear issue, the issues on the Korean Peninsula, the Syrian issue and the Palestinian question. We’ve issued China’s Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis and China’s Position on the Afghan Issue, and stood firm on the side of peace. Not long ago, Saudi Arabia and Iran held talks in Beijing and achieved major outcomes. The two countries announced their decision to resume diplomatic relations, which is a successful practice of the GSI and sets a good example of how countries in the region can resolve disputes and differences and achieve good neighborliness and friendship through dialogue and consultation.

Second, domestic demand has been expanding. Market sales have turned to increase. More opportunities and greater expectations to spend have driven market sales to expand and consumer spending in the service sector to rebound notably. In the first quarter, the total retail sales of consumer goods rose 5.8% from a year earlier, compared with a 2.7% decrease in the fourth quarter of last year. Retail sales in the service sector have demonstrated a good recovery momentum, of which catering revenue rose 13.9%. Investment has grown steadily. In the first quarter, fixed asset investment increased by 5.1% year on year, on par with the whole of last year. Among them, infrastructure investment and manufacturing investment grew by 8.8% and 7%, respectively.

Third, jobs and prices have remained basically stable. The employment situation has improved. In the first quarter, the surveyed urban unemployment rate averaged 5.5%, down 0.1 percentage points from the fourth quarter of last year. The surveyed urban unemployment rate in March was 5.3%, down 0.3 percentage points from February. Consumer prices rose moderately, and the supply of goods and services in the market was on the whole sufficient. In the first quarter, consumer prices rose by 1.3% year on year, maintaining a moderate rise. Excluding food and energy, the core CPI rose 0.8% year on year, unchanged from that of the first two months and thus basically stable.