(Author’s text by Colonel Cao Jiafeng, Military Attaché at the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China)
Today’s world is increasingly becoming a community with a shared future, where we are among you, and you are among us. On April 21, 2022, at the opening ceremony of the Annual Conference of the Boao Forum for Asia, President Xi Jinping proposed the “Global Security Initiative” for the first time. He advocated that all countries in the world should support a new security concept that is common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable. He also called for a comprehensive, systematic, and dynamic dialectical approach to global security issues and the use of collective security to address the global peace deficit. This initiative clearly answers the question of our time and the historical question: “What kind of security concept does the world need, and how can all countries achieve common security?” It clearly expresses China’s insistence on the path of peaceful development and the joint construction of a harmonious and symbiotic international security order. This initiative provides new guidelines for action to eliminate the root causes of international conflicts, responds to international security challenges, and promotes peace and development in the world. It offers a new path for addressing global security dilemmas, strengthening global security governance, and responding to them better thanks to Chinese wisdom. This initiative is also a public good that China has contributed to global security governance, demonstrating China’s diplomatic responsibilities as one of the leading world powers in the new era. On the new path, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army is ready to work together with the armies of other countries to maintain world peace, promote universal security, achieve common prosperity, and contribute to building a community with a shared future for humanity.
On August 1, 1927, the Communist Party of China launched the Nanchang Uprising, leading to the birth of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. Since then, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the people’s army has heroically committed itself to the historical tide of seeking liberation and happiness for the Chinese people and the independence and rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. For more than 90 years, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army has endured the storms of war, overcoming obstacles and making enormous sacrifices, achieving glorious victories one after another. Along this path, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army has kept pace with the development of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people, growing in this struggle, advancing its heritage and structure, and improving levels of revolutionization, modernization, and regularization. Entering the new era, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, under the leadership of the Party Central Committee with President Xi Jinping at its core, has thoroughly implemented the President’s Thought on Strengthening the Army, thoroughly implemented military strategic guidelines for the new era, and adhered to the principles of building a strong army through politics, strengthening the army through reform, strengthening the army through science and technology, and strengthening the army through talent development. Furthermore, it aims to lead the army in accordance with the law, focus on training and preparation for war, accelerate the modernization of military theory, military organizational forms, military personnel, and weapons and equipment, and speed up the development of mechanization, informatization, and intelligent integration. It also ensures that the centennial goal of army building is achieved by 2027, the basic realization of the modernization of national defense and the army by 2035, and the building of a world-class army by the middle of this century.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, guided by Xi Jinping’s Thought on Strengthening the Army, the Chinese military has actively participated in international peacekeeping operations, maritime escorts, humanitarian rescue, and other operations. It has always been a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, and a defender of the international order. China is a key force in United Nations peacekeeping operations and plays a valuable role in them. China has always actively fulfilled its obligations as a major power and assumed international responsibilities. Since 1990, China has sent more than 50,000 peacekeepers to more than 20 countries and regions to participate in nearly 30 United Nations peacekeeping operations. Faced with various challenges, Chinese peacekeepers such as Shen Liangliang, Li Lei, and Yang Shupeng have heroically sacrificed their lives on the front line of peacekeeping forces, defending their oaths with their youth and lives. The Chinese navy has continuously sent more than 40 escort fleets to the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters, completing over 1,500 groups and more than 7,100 escort missions for Chinese and foreign ships. The Chinese military actively participates in international disaster relief and humanitarian assistance, sending professional rescue forces to disaster-affected countries to provide rescue and assistance, supplying aid materials, and providing medical assistance. The hospital ship “Peace Ark” of the Chinese navy has gone abroad more than 10 times, visiting various parts of the world, providing diagnostic and treatment services to patients of different nationalities and skin colors. Regardless of how times change, the Chinese military has always faithfully implemented the concept of a community with a shared future for humanity, supported a new security concept that is common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable, actively fulfilled the international responsibilities of a major power’s military, and strived to contribute to the construction of a beautiful world of lasting peace and universal security.
China and Montenegro cherish a deep traditional friendship, and practical cooperation in various fields between the two sides continues to deepen. We look forward to opportunities for our two armies to enhance mutual understanding and trust, strengthen exchanges and cooperation, and jointly safeguard world peace and stability!