Xi's speech at Boao Forum provides guidance for global security, gathers strength for shared future, say experts

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a keynote speech via video at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2022, on April 21, 2022. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

BEIJING, April 22 (Xinhua) -- On the morning of April 21, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered via video link a keynote speech titled "Rising to Challenges and Building a Bright Future Through Cooperation" at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2022 held in Boao, Hainan Province.

The Global Security Initiative, proposed by Xi in his speech, provides important conceptual guidance for boosting reforms of the world's security governance system, resolving human security plights and promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, said experts worldwide.

In their eyes, Xi's propositions will shore up confidence and facilitate synergy for the international community to jointly open up a better future.

Surakiart Sathirathai, former deputy prime minister of Thailand and member of the BFA board of directors, said that the Global Security Initiative put forward by Xi reflects his global view and governance philosophy.

By shaping a fair and rational global security governance system, the world will be more stable, which is conducive to greater development and cooperation, he said.

Bambang Suryono, chairman of Indonesian think tank Asia Innovation Study Center, pointed out that the initiative embodies a vision of common and sustainable security.

Unlike some Western countries' unilateral pursuits of their own safety, China's Global Security Initiative seeks common security, which underlines peace and cooperation, said Suryono.

That will significantly help to create an international order based on mutual respect, equality and mutual trust, and achieve lasting peace and development of mankind, he noted.

Ky Sereyvath, director general of the Institute of China Studies at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, voiced his support for the Global Security Initiative, saying that the initiative highlights the significance of safeguarding regional and global peace and security, which is a prerequisite for global development and prosperity.

"The Cold War mentality, hegemonism and power politics, unilateralism, and protectionism would only harm global peace, security and development," he said.

"It(the Global Security Initiative) depicts that the Chinese care about the world as much as they care about China," Shakeel Ahmad Ramay, chief executive officer of the Islamabad-based think-tank Asian Institute of Eco-civilization Research and Development, told Xinhua. The expert believed that a new security framework should concentrate on cooperation and how to make better life for all.

"If we want to move for a sustainable future, if we want to move for a prosperous future, if we want to move to achieve the goal of a community with a shared future, we need a new security apparatus that has been exactly proposed by President Xi Jinping," said Ramay.

For Alexey Mukhin, director general of the Center for Political Information in Russia, global security is shared and inseparable, with all countries' legitimate security concerns taken into consideration.

It cannot hinge on confrontations, military blocs, double standards or the Cold War mentality, said Mukhin.

Sengthong Phasavath, Chief Editor for the English News Division at Lao News Agency, said that the COVID-19 pandemic and turbulent international situation have profoundly affected economic and social development across the world.

Sharing weal and woe, the international community should join hands to deal with the pandemic, promote peaceful cooperation and create a future together, Phasavath added.