Chongqing- The increasingly turbulent international situation has brought uncertainty and instability to the global human society, raising the significance of holding the Non-traditional Security and Rule of Law Construction Seminar, said Wu Yuhong, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Director-General of the High-end National Think-tank of the Southwest University of Political Science & Law (SWUPL). 

Wu Yuhong, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Director-General of the Southwest University of Political Science & Law High-end National Think-tank. (Photo/ Xie Xinyi)

The Non-traditional Security and Rule of Law Construction Seminar was held at the SWUPL on July 16, 2022.

The discourse system is a country's soft power

Jia Wenshan, Professor at the Department of Communication at Chapman University, a distinguished professor at Shandong University, and the Dean of Global Engagement Academy, pointed out that the discourse system of a community with a shared future for humanity serves as the most fundamental guarantee for non-traditional security.

"National security and global security should become dual value orientations for international communication in non-traditional security fields," said Professor Zhong Xin, Associate Dean of the Institution of Public Diplomacy at the Renmin University of China. "The discourse of security is a non-traditional security that cannot be ignored."

The discourse system serves as the concentrated expression of a country's soft power, which affects the international status of its mainstream ideology and global discourse power.

By strengthening discourse construction and external communication, improving talent training, showing China's position, expressing China's views, and sharing China's experience, the world may have more understanding and support for China.

People should strengthen communication silently and softly

The power of international communication from the folk perspective pointed out that people should strengthen communication silently and softly, according to Huang Yuejian, a senior researcher at China International Economic Consultants Co., Ltd.

Meanwhile, the public opinion on human rights should include both a Chinese voice and Chinese characteristics, said Professor Yin Yungong, former Director at the Research Center for Socialism with Chinese Characteristics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences(CASS) and Dean at the School of Journalism and Communication of Hunan Normal University.

For example, through building Trans-Himalayan Narratives and Discourses around the Himalayan Economic Belt, where the mountain shapes the relationship between different groups of people and the processes within their society and culture, China can promote the settlement of China-India-Pakistan border issues related to Kashmir, Ladakh, and the Himalayas and strive for India to join the Belt and Road, said Professor Li Xiguang from the School of Journalism and Communication of Tsinghua University.

Photo taken on April 13, 2022, shows Zhentang Township encircled by primitive forests at the foot of Qomolangma deep in the Himalayas, in Dinggye County of Xigaze, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Liu Ying)

Through a comprehensive survey of geography, culture, language, religion, history, archaeology, and international politics, China will be able to reshape the narrative of Western Himalaya, Karakoram, and Hindu Kush mountains, break through the Western hegemony of Himalayan narratives and create a new narrative of the economic belt around the Himalayas, to serve the community of a shared future for the Belt and Road,  Asia, and surrounding areas.

Furthermore, as human society has entered the era of all media, information warfare under the "intelligent" Internet has new characteristics. Thus, China needs to improve the quality of education, strengthen human resources construction, and pay close attention to the three aspects of intelligent space, said Qian Feng, Director of the National Strategy Institute of Tsinghua University and senior researcher of Taihe Institue.

The seminar was hosted by the Institute of Non-Traditional Security, National Human Rights Education, and Training Base, and School of Journalism and Communication at SWUPL and co-organized by Chongqing Center for Equal Social Development.

The seminar was hosted by the Institute of Non-Traditional Security, the National Human Rights Education and Training Base, and the School of Journalism and Communication at SWUPL. (Photo/ Xie Xinyi)

(Zhu Qinzhuo, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)