Xi links ‘Peaceful China’ drive to modernization and national security

Xi Jinping has instructed officials to advance the Peaceful China Initiative as a pillar of Chinese modernization, tightening the link between domestic order, national security and technology-enabled governance. In an instruction publicized on September 28, Xi called for stronger Party leadership, improved legal tools, greater use of science and technology, and better risk prevention in public security governance.¹

The message, released around a national conference on the initiative, frames stability as a prerequisite for modernization, not simply a law-and-order goal. Official accounts said Peaceful China should safeguard the country’s modernization drive, strengthen public security governance and improve the state’s ability to prevent and defuse risks.¹²

That framing matters for China policy watchers because it places everyday governance — crime prevention, social management, dispute mediation, anti-fraud work, grassroots monitoring and digital risk-warning systems — inside Beijing’s broader national-security architecture. The model described by central and local outlets is not just tougher policing. It is a whole-of-system approach in which Party committees, courts, prosecutors, police, local governments, technology platforms and neighborhood-level governance bodies are expected to identify threats early and maintain social order.⁴⁵

Stability as modernization infrastructure

The State Council’s English-language account said Xi urged officials to build a “higher-level Peaceful China” and linked the initiative directly to safeguarding Chinese modernization. It emphasized Party leadership, a people-centered approach, stronger rule of law, the use of science and technology, and risk prevention.¹

The Chinese-language Xinhua text reposted by the Cyberspace Administration of China used the phrase “科技赋能,” or technology empowerment, in describing Xi’s instructions. It also paired stronger public security governance with stronger social governance and national security capacity, underscoring Beijing’s view that social stability, public order and national security are mutually reinforcing policy domains.²

A Xinhua backgrounder published the day before the conference placed Peaceful China in a wider ideological frame. It described the initiative as a foundation for national rejuvenation and modernization, while stressing overall national security, the integration of development and security, law-based governance, intelligent governance and systemic risk control.⁴

The result is a policy narrative in which modernization depends not only on growth, innovation and industrial upgrading, but also on the state’s ability to manage social tensions, security threats and governance risks before they become destabilizing.

Model cities as implementation signals

The September 28 conference also highlighted model-city and model-county designations. According to the State Council account, 60 cities and 160 counties were named Peaceful China construction models for the 2021–2025 period.¹

A report from Zhengyiwang, affiliated with the Procuratorial Daily, said the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission issued the decision granting those designations. The report tied the model-building effort to Party leadership, the next five-year planning cycle and the modernization agenda, indicating that the designations are intended to reward localities that align public security governance with central priorities.³

For Beijing, such lists serve several purposes. They publicize preferred governance practices, create benchmarks for local officials and signal that social stability work is part of performance evaluation. They also allow central authorities to translate broad concepts — risk prevention, social governance modernization and security capacity — into local administrative templates.

From crime control to risk governance

People’s Daily Overseas Edition broadened the official message beyond conventional crime suppression. Its September 28 feature framed Peaceful China as a national calling card and discussed national security, social governance, anti-fraud work, grassroots dispute resolution, legal mechanisms, and the integration of development and security.⁵

That emphasis reflects a shift from reactive enforcement toward preemptive risk governance. In this approach, criminal activity is only one concern. Online scams, petitions, local disputes, public grievances, social instability, emergencies and perceived security vulnerabilities can all become targets for early detection and coordinated intervention.

The legal dimension is central to that presentation. Official sources repeatedly stress law-based governance, suggesting that Beijing wants security work to be seen as institutionalized and rule-based. But the same accounts also emphasize Party leadership and integrated political-legal coordination, making clear that legal tools are embedded within a Party-led governance structure.¹³⁴

Technology as a governance multiplier

Technology is one of the most important elements in the current framing. Official language around “technology empowerment” and “intelligent governance” points to the use of data systems, digital platforms and early-warning mechanisms to support public security and social management.²⁴

Local reporting from Yueyang, a city in Hunan named as a model city, shows how the national framework is being applied on the ground. Hunan Daily’s New Hunan client described Yueyang’s approach as Party-led and risk-focused, citing anti-crime campaigns, grid management, dispute resolution centers and an intelligent social-security risk warning platform.⁶

The Yueyang example shows how central slogans become local governance systems. Grid management can divide urban and rural areas into smaller units for monitoring and service delivery. Dispute resolution centers can channel conflicts into mediation before they escalate. Risk-warning platforms can aggregate information to flag potential problems. Together, these mechanisms show how Beijing’s stability agenda increasingly relies on administrative integration and data-enabled surveillance capacity.⁶

Policy implications

The latest instructions suggest Peaceful China will remain a core domestic priority as Beijing prepares for the next stage of national planning. The initiative is being positioned alongside modernization, national rejuvenation and overall national security, giving it political significance beyond public safety.

For outside observers, the key point is that China’s leadership is not treating stability maintenance as a separate security portfolio. It is presenting domestic order as infrastructure for modernization itself. That makes public security governance part of the same strategic agenda as economic development, technological upgrading and national security capacity.

The September 28 messaging also points to continued institutional incentives for local governments to invest in predictive governance, digital monitoring, grassroots mediation and coordinated political-legal work. The model-city designations show which local practices Beijing wants to elevate, while the central instructions define the standards: Party leadership, legal underpinning, technology empowerment and risk prevention.¹³⁶

For China policy watchers, the Peaceful China Initiative should be read less as a periodic law-and-order campaign than as a long-term governing framework. Its purpose is to make stability, security and social control integral to the state’s modernization project.