Ma Haiyun and Zhang Yu: Promoting Benign Interaction Between High-Quality Development and High-Level Security
Coordinating development and security is a major strategic deployment made by the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, based on the requirements of the new situation. We must comprehensively implement the Holistic Approach to National Security [1], improve the systems and mechanisms for maintaining national security, and realize a benign interaction between high-quality development and high-level security.
The logic of coordinating development and security follows scientific laws. Examining the relationship between development and security from the perspective of dialectical materialism, the two manifest as a contradiction characterized by the unity of opposites. On the one hand, development is motion; it implies change, movement, and transformation, accompanied by inherent competitiveness and risk. Security is relative stasis; it implies freedom from threats, danger, and harm, requiring stability and certainty. Thus, an internal tension exists between the two. On the other hand, development and security are essentially interdependent. Development is the fundamental guarantee of security; without continuous development, it is difficult to ensure the long-term peace and stability [2] of the state and the security and well-being of the people. Security is the basic prerequisite for development; without a stable security environment, development will be seriously restricted or even interrupted. Sustaining security through development and seeking development through security is the inevitable choice of following dialectical materialism. Simultaneously, as a philosophical category marking the holistic existence of things, the "system" emphasizes viewing matters through a comprehensive, interconnected, and developmental lens. We must adhere to a systems-thinking approach [3] to properly handle major relationships such as those between the economy and society, the government and the market, efficiency and equity, vitality and order, and development and security, thereby enhancing the systemic, holistic, and synergistic nature of reform. From the perspective of systems thinking, development and security are a pair of interdependent and mutually reinforcing variable elements. The coordination of development and security is itself a process in which a system composed of the interaction of these two elements—"development" and "security"—constantly pursues a dynamic equilibrium. Security capacity is a component of national capacity; only by maintaining and strengthening security can a stable environment for development be provided. Development is the "top priority" [4]; only by promoting development and driving innovation can the material guarantee for security be provided. Therefore, we must plan development and security from an industrial-wide perspective, persist in overall planning while taking all factors into consideration, and advance them in a coordinated manner to realize a benign interaction between high-quality development and high-level security, forming an organically unified whole.
The policies for coordinating development and security have formed an effective supply. By adhering to the coordination of development and security, we can effectively prevent and resolve various risks and safeguard the New Development Paradigm [5] with a New Security Paradigm. While development brings economic prosperity, technological progress, and improved living standards, it may also create hidden security hazards such as environmental destruction, resource depletion, and social injustice. Conversely, maintaining the security environment and order may also affect social innovation and restrict the speed and quality of development. It is evident that although development and security are each independently valid, they are sometimes contradictory. In response, we must facilitate a benign coupling of development and security elements within the operation of the economy and society. Policy designs for promoting development should include security considerations and follow security laws, while policy designs for ensuring security should support developmental space and accommodate developmental elements. Currently, the state is actively strengthening the concept and action of "intrinsic safety" [6] within security governance, treating it as an effective measure for coordinating development and security. Intrinsic safety is preventative and primordial; it emphasizes neutralizing security risks at the source without hindering—and even while supporting—developmental requirements. In recent years, the State Council and the Ministry of Emergency Management have successively issued several documents regarding work safety in the chemical industry, such as the "14th Five-Year Plan for Hazardous Chemical Work Safety," the "Implementation Plan for 'Industrial Internet + Hazardous Chemical Work Safety' Pilot Construction," and the "Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Safety Risks in Hazardous Chemical Production and Construction Projects (Trial)." These policy documents put forward requirements for improving intrinsic safety levels, including "emphasizing the construction of a security governance system and the improvement of intrinsic safety," "improving intrinsic safety and safety supervision levels in the field of hazardous chemicals," and "strengthening intrinsic safety design, actively adopting advanced domestic and international safety technologies and risk management methods, following the principles of reduction, substitution, moderation, and simplification, and striving to improve intrinsic safety levels." Notably, the "14th Five-Year Plan for Hazardous Chemical Work Safety" issued by the Ministry of Emergency Management in 2022 explicitly proposed building an intrinsic safety development system, designing a series of measures across multiple dimensions including management and technology. Therefore, from the perspective of institutional design, China is gradually constructing a policy supply system that coordinates development and security.
The vivid practice of coordinating development and security. Security is the prerequisite for development, and development is the guarantee for security. We must strengthen our awareness of potential dangers [7], adhere to bottom-line thinking [8], resolutely prevent and resolve risks, and safeguard high-quality development with high-level security. Currently, local governments are carrying out specific practices to coordinate development and security, particularly in the field of work safety governance. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out the need to strengthen work safety governance in key areas such as transportation, fire protection, and hazardous chemicals to curb the occurrence of major and extremely large accidents. In recent years, Jiangsu Province has actively coordinated development and security, firmly holding the bottom line of safety and highlighting the concept of intrinsic safety. It has achieved significant results in supervising key areas such as chemicals, construction, mining, and road transport, driving a "double decline" in the number of accidents and accident fatalities. The Jiangsu Provincial Department of Emergency Management issued the "Guiding Opinions on Improving the Intrinsic Safety Level of Hazardous Chemical Enterprises" and launched a special action for the deep diagnosis and rectification of intrinsic safety in key chemical (hazardous chemical) enterprises, continuously improving the intrinsic safety level of these enterprises across the province. The Jiangsu Provincial Department of Emergency Management and Nanjing Tech University jointly established the Jiangsu Institute of Intrinsic Chemical Safety to conduct R&D on intrinsic safety process technologies based on moderation/substitution principles and intrinsic safety process intensification technologies based on new equipment. The Gansu Provincial Department of Water Resources issued the "Construction Plan for the Intrinsic Safety System of Water Conservancy Enterprises" in 2019; the Gansu Provincial Department of Emergency Management held a province-wide training meeting on the construction of intrinsic safety systems for mining enterprises in 2019; and the Gansu Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development issued the "Implementation Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of Intrinsic Safety Systems for Building and Municipal Engineering Construction Enterprises" in 2020, promoting the coverage of intrinsic safety requirements and measures across the fields of water conservancy, mining, and construction. In 2024, the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government issued the "1+7" policy document system for strengthening the foundation and improving intrinsic safety levels, making detailed regulations regarding the implementation of responsibilities in key links and risk prevention in key areas. The Jilin Provincial Department of Emergency Management, the Department of Public Security, and other departments jointly formulated the "Opinions on Promoting the Implementation of the Registered Safety Engineer and Registered Fire Engineer Systems to Improve the Professional Ability of Supervisors and the Social Intrinsic Safety Level," enhancing supervisory efficiency and social security levels. In summary, local governments have been diligent in improving intrinsic safety, forming a rich exploration and vivid practice of coordinating development and security.