China is India’s largest neighbour. China’s military modernisation is rapidly advancing. I have to admit India has strong security concerns about China. Recently I published a book ‘The Last War’ which argues that PLA is very strong. Could you please briefly describe China’s armed forces and national defence policy?

August 1 of this year marks the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. PLA is the people’s armed forces under the absolute leadership of the Communist Party of China. Over the past 95 years, it has gone through extremely difficult times and made extremely huge sacrifices for national independence, people’s liberation and country’s prosperity, winning one glorious victory after another. In recent years, guided by Xi Jinping’s thinking on strengthening the military, PLA has undergone a comprehensive reform of unprecedented intensity, depth and breadth, realising a whole new system, a whole new structure, a whole new pattern and a whole new morale. PLA is striding forward towards the grand goal of building a world-class armed forces in an all-round way.

The Chinese people are peace loving. The Chinese path is the one of peaceful development and the Chinese foreign policy is an independent one of peace. China will unswervingly pursue a national defence policy that is defensive in nature. China will never seek hegemony, expansion or spheres of influence. Since the founding of New China, we never invaded other countries, never engaged in proxy wars, and never participated in any military bloc. Today, with the swirling combination of once-in-a-century changes and a world in turmoil, the dominant trend of peace and development is facing major challenges. China will always be a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, a defender of the international order, as well as a mediator of hot-spot issues and a provider of public good. As has been and will continue to be proven, China’s armed forces has always been a steadfast force for safeguarding world peace and its development has always been reinforcing the global dynamic in favour of peace.

China is firmly committed to the path of peaceful development, and sincerely hopes that other countries will also follow the path of peaceful development. China firmly opposes hegemony and power politics of any kind and will never allow its national sovereignty, security and development interests to be undermined. PLA has the determination and capability to prevail over all threats and challenges with the endeavour to provide strategic support for safeguarding national sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity.

Thank you for letting me know about the publication of your new book. I will read it when I receive it.

Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Security Initiative (GSI) in April, which highlights the Principle of Indivisible Security. Could you explain its specific meaning? China claims that GSI is a new security vision. How is it fundamentally different?

President Xi Jinping made a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2022 in April and proposed for the first time the Global Security Initiative (GSI). The GSI gives clear answers to questions of our times such as what security concept the world needs and how countries can achieve common security. As another global public good after Global Development Initiative, the GSI has contributed Chinese wisdom to eliminating the peace deficit and offered Chinese solution to tackling international security challenges.

The GSI is fundamentally different from the outdated Cold War mentality and the zero-sum game thinking. It is mainly reflected in five aspects. Firstly, the GSI stays committed to international law and universally recognised norms of international relations and rejects