Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Is China Forming a National Security Council (guojia anquan weiyuanhui)?

The leaders of the Chinese Communist Party have resolved to establish a national security council (guojia anquan weiyuanhui) in order to “perfect the national security system and strategy, and guarantee national security” (Xinhua, November 12). The call, buried in the final communiqué of the Third Plenum of the Central Committee, appears from context to be focused on addressing domestic threats to the Party, but both the choice of name—the same as the Chinese translation of the names of the U.S. and Russian National Security Councils­­ (NSC)—and the leadership’s recent decision to apply the concept of “top-level design” to foreign affairs suggest that this body may come to function as a Chinese equivalent of its international counterparts, as a venue for inter-agency coordination on security issues.

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