Written by ZHANG Yunling

Member of the Academic Committee of the Institute for Global Cooperation and Understanding(iGCU), PKU

Member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Chair Professor and Dean of the Institute of International Studies at Shandong University

1. What we need to know about the global public security issue?

In general, global public security is a public security issue that crosses national borders and concerns the security of mankind, society, property and others. Different from fighting against domestic public security problem, to respond to and deal with any threats to global public security, a country must work both on its alone and via international cooperation. For the international cooperation to unfold effectively, there must be corresponding operation mechanisms, institutions and networks at a global level. Therefore, constructing a global public security system has grown very important.

A global public security issue generally covers to fields – “individual security” and “common security.” The threat to the security of people overseas, corporate investment, and personal or institutional assets overseas features individuality, and thus calls for relevant parties to take precautions or emergency measures based on the specific situation as well as actual needs. The security of individuals, interconnected and mutually affected, could become that of communities. Within communities, the circumstances of and threats to the security as well as their expansion and transmission feature interconnectivity, transmissibility and mutual or even circular impacts. Therefore, cooperation is needed to handle the common security issue.

In this era of globalization, both the means of production and the styles of social life are highly interconnected and mutually dependent, with each field forming into one or more chains and the chains connecting with one another into a complicated network. Nowadays, most countries and regions have joined in the network. The more open and developed its economy is, the deeper it will be involved and the harder for it to unhook. There has been much debates on the China-US unhooking. Will it be possible? It is possible that certain high-tech cooperation will be blocked, as China and the US tend to pile up the “wall” preventing from outflow in a bid to secure competitive advantages and avoid excessive external reliance. Nevertheless, a thorough unhooking will not happen unless the US completely locked down from China – even though the government wishes so, the incorporated businesses will not agree, neither do the American people.

The Trump administration attempted to block international companies like Huawei from the US-dominated system, and made Huawei’s 5G issue a political one. Political extremism incurs irrational behaviors. Despite of all its efforts, a complete blocking still remains impossible. In one aspect, in the international arena, the governments, businesses and individuals of different countries and regions tend to protect their own technical patents and strictly guard against high-tech revelations. In the other, when it comes to scale production, big data application and high-tech industries requiring joint efforts, openness and cooperation is indispensable. The Internet and the Things of Internet (ToI) are typical examples for internationalization.

From February 22-23, 2020, WHO-China Joint Mission on Coronavirus conducts investigations in Wuhan Hubei Province

The mutually reliant relationship and interest chain brings forth two types of security obligation. Specifically, the first is individual obligation, namely each and every stakeholder is responsible for maintaining the normal operation of the chain and the network, and any separated or arbitrary attempt to change or disrupt it is forbidden; the second is common obligation, that is, all members should contribute to responding to and finally solving the problem. In order to punish those who do not perform individual or common obligations, universally adopted rules are required. However, due to the complexity and transnationality of the issue, the international laws and regulations remain insufficient. Some country even unjustifiably applies domestic laws and regulations to overseas entities for “long-arm jurisdiction.” Needless to say, only a superpower like the US is capable of doing this. When it comes to common security, how to handle irresponsible parties poses great challenges to global public security. This is a question of not only specific laws and regulations, but also the maker and executer of such laws and regulations, etc.

2. Large-scale emergency concerns all

The common security issue in the field of global public security reveals prominently during large-scale emergency or crisis. No matter in terms of time, location, form or the exact scale, the large-scale emergency or crisis is unpredictable. The unexpected outbreak of COVID-19 forces all countries into pandemic containment. Aside from restricting the flow of people, the governments have suspended air travels, delivery or customs services, cutting off normal social activities in almost every area of international exchanges. Especially in the economic sphere, the temporary break-off of supply chains for global production and consumption has exacerbated debt burdens and risks of social crisis.

China is an important link along the global industrial chain for product manufacturing and processing. Since the outbreak, China’s enterprises suspended production and cut down supplying component parts. Being short of component parts, the whole production chain can hardly operate as usual. For example, as the China-based Foxconn cannot provide parts, Apple was cornered by a supply disruption, which forced the company to adopt a makeshift plan for production and sales. For another, the Korea-based Hyundai Motor Company had to greatly reduce its output after finding it impossible to get component parts from China. As the pandemic hit more and more countries and regions across globe, the industrial chains of many more products will be affected. To make things worse, in this world of internationalization, information and networks, in order to lower production costs, the large transnationals all produce in large scale while following the “zero-inventory” operational mechanism based on the network and big data. They do not have any alternative supplier for emergency use, and thus have to suspend production in a crisis of supply disruption. The suspension of the operation of any one chain, however, will affect that of the others. Economic operation and social lives have become smoother amidst globalization; nevertheless, vulnerability has also piled up – an accident happened to any one party can rapidly affect the others on a large scale. How to address the impact of a crisis like this? This is a significant issue for us to face up to and find solutions to as the informatized, internationalized, and network-based world continues to develop. Some believe that the worldwide eruption of the COVID-19 pandemic will pull us back from globalization, and the countries will turn to independent production and supply. This is hardly so. Such considerations are understandable in times of the pandemic, but once the pandemic ends, globalization proceeds.

In the globalization era, the economy and society of all countries are interconnected, and no one can staying out of the community. Out of complex reasons, the incidence and transmission of epidemic diseases has become normal in today’s world, even demonstrating signs of aggravation. The incidence and spread of the COVID-19 pandemic makes us attach greater importance to the global public health security issue, and spurs us to look deeper into the ways to promote the cooperation on global public health security and the construction of a global public security governance system. After the pandemic broke out, China has mobilized sources on all fronts through the national mobilization system for pandemic containment and medical treatment. As a result, not only effective results have been delivered in curbing pandemic transmission and curing the infected, but governance experience has been accumulated.

Internationally, the World Health Organization (WHO), as the major pandemic management institution, has acted proactively in information exchanges, situation research and prediction, as well as the prevention and treatment of the disease. However, in face of such a serious pandemic like COVID-19, the WHO has also met with some problems, which knocked on many other effects on every front. For instance, how to ensure the inflicted areas keep the WHO posted in a timely, precise and comprehensive way? How to prevent members of the international community from working on their own and taking lockdown measures against each other, which would only result in greater panics and faster transmission? How to strengthen coordination and adopt effective and feasible measures together? Still, regarding the pandemic outbreak in China, even though the WHO has raised the alert level and clearly suggested not taking any measure to restrict travel or trade, many countries and regions still chose to lock down borders against China in terms of travel, trade, and transportation, etc. As the pandemic continues to evolve, it is very difficult to have bilateral negotiations. In this situation, the preparation of international rules and guiding principles abided by all becomes ever more urgent.

3. The global governance system calls for urgent improvement

Against the background where the public health security issue becomes increasingly globalized and the threats to public health security continues exacerbating, it is essential that a comprehensive global security governance system featuring coordination and cooperation be established. After the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003, China has initiated efforts to set up the International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI), in a bid to promote exchanges among national public health institutes through such actions as technical cooperation, expert resource sharing and policy advocacy, and thus propel mutual development. In face of the COVID-19 pandemic containment, we should take the opportunity to advance the cooperation on global public health security, update the ideas behind of global public health security governance, and promote the construction of a multi-layered global public health security system.

Since the neighboring countries and regions have the most frequent flow of people and goods, the commonality of public health security is more prominent. Adding that the regional cooperation is easier to conducted, the setting-up of a global public security cooperation mechanism can be organized on a pilot basis within the region, and the members are expected to share the benefits of such a mechanism in a faster and stronger manner. Therefore, the reginal public health security cooperation has a role to play. In Asia, great efforts should be taken to promote the construction of public health security cooperation mechanisms under the frameworks of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-China, Japan and Republic of Korea(10+3) leaders’ meeting, the East Asia Summit, the China-Japan-Korea cooperation, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

The global public health security is crucial to the core interest of mankind. As a great power, China has both the obligation and capability to contribute substantively to the global public health security and other areas of public security by offering more public products. The experience China gained, the response models explored, as well as best practices in public health security standardization and implementation, can all serve as important public products. In particular, China should play a leading role in promoting the mechanism-based cooperation on public health security with countries along the Belt and Road (B&R), by constructing a B&R public health security network, setting up a special fund, or organizing skill training sessions, etc. Actually, much effort has been made in this regard. A cooperation mechanism with African countries has already taken its shape and specific measures have been taken, including jointly developing human resources for public health, organizing vocational technique training sessions, establishing joint medical and healthcare research laboratories, and supporting the Africa to prevent and cure schistosomiasis, diarrhea, AIDS and Ebola virus through public health security cooperation programs. China has also stepped up coordination and cooperation with the US in global health security affairs. On this basis, a China-Africa public health security governance mechanism may be established. Back in the years post the SARS outbreak, China signed public health security cooperation agreements with Japan, South Korea and ASEAN countries. After this crisis, China may reexamine these agreements, enrich clauses on cooperation, and particularly prepare feasible rules and establish joint warning and response mechanisms.

On March 7, 2020,Ambassador CHEN Xu, Permanent Representative of China to the UN Office at Geneva and other International Organizations in Switzerland met with Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the WHO to inform that the Chinese government will contribute USD20 million to the WHO in support of its global efforts in combating the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the future, China has a greater role to play in the supply of global public health security products not only by offering materials and financial aid, but by promoting public health security governance with its ideas, experience, knowledge and techniques. The issue of public health security shall be linked with globally important issues such as sustainable environmental development and the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), so as to advance the construction of the global public health security governance system.

The governments shall play a leading role in constructing the global public health security governance system. Meanwhile, it should be noted that, as such governance is increasingly characterized by a diversified and multi-layered structure, the governments alone cannot fulfill the task, the participation and contribution of international organizations and private institutions (including social groups and incorporated businesses) are necessary, and feasible interaction mechanisms and rules motivating positive partnerships must be formulated. In promoting the system construction, high importance should be attached to the role of businesses, non-government organizations and other social entities, so as to put in place “diversified partnership” and “intelligent systems”, fully leverage the integration capacity of networks and big data in resource allocation as well as information collection, organization and disclosure, and realize fast joint response and effective coordination in terms of warning, prevention and control and medical treatment.

Looking into the future, the gravest threat to the mankind comes from the changes in our living environment brought by the integrated ecological environment changes, glaciers melting as a result of climate warming, polar ice cap disappearing in the Arctic and the Antarctic, as well as the imbalance of bio-diversity, etc. According to scientific predictions, along with the environmental upheaval, new viral epidemics can occur frequently, repeatedly and often abruptly, attacking us on a large scale, in a fast speed and with widespread influences; however, the pathological identification of the nature of the virus can hardly be done within short periods. In this kind of situation, only through the well-operated global public health security governance system rather than uncoordinated efforts of individual countries can we fight against the virus effectively.

Note: The Chinese version of this article has been published by World Affairs, No.7, 2020.