Given the content of China’s new national security white paper, Beijing is likely to perceive U.S. tariffs and the cancellation of student visas as ideological attacks on its political system, not just policy decisions, and may retaliate with countermeasures such as cyberattacks, sanctions, or crackdowns on U.S.-linked entities in China.
The Chinese Communist Party has released a new national security white paper asserting that security is essential to development and openness, while warning against foreign interference and ideological threats. The document emphasizes rule of law with “Chinese characteristics” and reaffirms the Party’s zero tolerance for external pressure or attempts to undermine its political system. In this context, “external threats” almost always refer to the United States, signaling that China views U.S. resistance to its effort to reshape the international order as a direct challenge to its security.
The new white paper, China’s National Security in the New Era, roots Xi Jinping’s concept of comprehensive national security in 5,000 years of Chinese civilization and strategic culture. Unlike the U.S., which regularly issues national security strategies, this is China’s first official attempt to define a unified framework, possibly foreshadowing an internal five-year plan for 2026–2031. This shift in planning and public messaging suggests that the PRC is signaling a heightened sense of urgency, possibly indicating that preparations for a future conflict over Taiwan, or even direct confrontation with the United States, are moving closer to a predetermined timeline.
For over a decade, China has viewed U.S.-led multinational security alliances, especially NATO (a defense alliance) and newer coalitions like AUKUS (Australia, the UK, and the U.S.) and the Quad (the U.S., Japan, Australia, and India)—with suspicion and likely envy. While Beijing is deepening ties with pariah states such as Afghanistan, Russia, and Iran, it maintains only one formal defense treaty, with North Korea. In contrast, the new white paper promotes the PRC’s Global Security Initiative (GSI) as an alternative to Western frameworks. Introduced by Xi Jinping in 2023, the GSI outlines China’s vision for reshaping global security governance by rejecting bloc politics, unilateralism, and Cold War thinking.
Hellbound and Down 