Shanghai struggle; Global Security Initiative 全球安全倡议; Markets need cash and confidence

I clearly spoke too soon yesterday when writing that “Shanghai may be turning the corner.”

On Thursday the city government announced it will “carry out nine major actions to clear community-level transmission from April 22nd, and strive to realize the clearing community-level transmission in Shanghai as soon as possible". Included in those 9 actions are more lockdowns, testing, and quarantining. The local officials are increasingly stressed about getting the situation under control.

In his video speech to the annual Boao Asia Forum Xi Jinping laid down another marker in the PRC’s quest to remake the international system with a much diminished role for the United States. Xi proposed a “Global Security Initiative 全球安全倡议”

We need to work together to maintain peace and stability in the world. An ancient Chinese philosopher observed, "Stability brings a country prosperity while instability leads a country to poverty." Security is the precondition for development. We humanity are living in an indivisible security community. It has been proven time and again that the Cold War mentality would only wreck the global peace framework, that hegemonism and power politics would only endanger world peace, and that bloc confrontation would only exacerbate security challenges in the 21st century. To promote security for all in the world, China would like to propose a Global Security Initiative as follows:

It is important that we stay committed to the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and work together to maintain world peace and security; stay committed to respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, uphold non-interference in internal affairs, and respect the independent choices of development paths and social systems made by people in different countries; stay committed to abiding by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, reject the Cold War mentality, oppose unilateralism, and say no to group politics and bloc confrontation; stay committed to taking the legitimate security concerns of all countries seriously, uphold the principle of indivisible security, build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture, and oppose the pursuit of one's own security at the cost of others' security; stay committed to peacefully resolving differences and disputes between countries through dialogue and consultation, support all efforts conducive to the peaceful settlement of crises, reject double standards, and oppose the wanton use of unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction; stay committed to maintaining security in both traditional and non-traditional domains, and work together on regional disputes and global challenges such as terrorism, climate change, cybersecurity and biosecurity.

I would not underestimate how well received this concept will be in many countries around the world.

It is noteworthy that in his speech Xi mentioned “indivisible security 不可分割的安全” twice. Anyone still hoping there are signs of daylight between Xi and Putin will be disappointed.

Today’s Essential Eight:

1. Shanghai outbreak

2. Xi proposes a “Global Security Initiative 全球安全倡议”

3. EU-PRC-US

4. Pilot private pension scheme to launch

5. CSRC calls a meeting with PRC institutional investors

6. Delay in punishing Didi not good for investor confidence

7. "Youth of China in the New Era” White Paper

8. Math genius and prodigious fundraiser leaves Harvard for Tsinghua

Thanks for reading, and I hope to see many of you in tomorrow’s weekly discussion thread.