South Africa: China Establishing State Security Committee Is Predicted

Chinese Translation of the Week

The Third Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee ended on November 12th 2013 with the decisions of establishing a state security committee to improve systems and strategies to ensure China's national security.

During today's interview with reporter from People.com, Dr. Thokozani Simelane, the Interim Research Director of Africa Institute of South Africa said that the importance of China's national security has been underestimated considering its international influences and accomplishments. The recent scandals of wiretap in international society confirmed the vulnerability of some countries' national security. Therefore, the establishment of a state security committee is an imperative and foresighted policy for China.

人民网北京11月12日电（王泽 申亚欣）十八届三中全会今日下午闭幕。全会提出，设立国家安全委员会，完善国家安全体制和国家安全战略，确保国家安全。

南非非洲研究院研究部部长西梅拉内今日在接受人民网记者专访时表示，考略到中国在世界范围内的影响和成就，中国国家安全的重要性目前是被低估的。最近国际社会发生的"监听丑闻"证实了一些国家在国家安全方面的脆弱性。因此，中国设立国家安全委员会是刻不容缓且具有远见的政策。

This article has been translated from Mandarin. Click here to read the original version on People.com.

Simelane also expected China to play a more significant role in the United Nations in the future. China needs to realize its own continuous development through helping maintain the peace and stability both globally and regionally.

Simelane believed that China's amazing economic development has set a good example for many developing countries, especially for those in Africa. "For China, how to allocate resources efficiently within the international scope is very important. China has successfully established a concrete foundation of exchanging manufacturing technology and intellectual property with its trade partners. With more emphasis on market economy in resource allocation, this win-win exchange can be further reinforced. African countries will benefit a lot from this reform."

Meanwhile, Simelane also pointed out that China still has many problems, such as the gap between the rich and the poor, especially the imbalance between urban and rural areas. China also needs to solve the problem in boosting domestic consumption if it wants to maintain the current rapid economic growth. "Besides, under current situation, it is still hard for China to get rid of the international impression of 'Made in China equals to Inferior products'. How to conduct industrial structure transformation and produce more high-tech and high-quality products are problems that China must confront now."

The communique of the Third Plenum includes decisions of "respecting the authority of the constitution and rule of law, deepening the reforms in administrative and jurisdiction systems, ensuring the independent and impartial execution of judicial and procuratorial powers in accordance with the laws, improving the judicial power operation mechanism and perfecting the judicial protection system for human rights." Simelane considered these statements as a right step for China to reform in a right direction in the future. He said that China has been accused by a few international organizations for "doing nothing to protect human rights" in the past few years. These people are trying to use these accusations to cover up the achievements of China's reform and opening up policy. By improving the juridical power operation mechanism and the judicial protection for human rights, China will not only be able to apply specific judicial approaches to targeted human-rights-protection-related issues, but also to establish a comprehensive human rights protection system.

Article translated by Laiyin Yuan, Staff Intern for the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Wilson Center.

Photo attributed to Wikimedia Commons.