A country as big and populous as China can never attach too much importance to its national security, especially when domestic and external uncertainties are on the increase.

The National Security Commission headed by Party General Secretary Xi Jinping, which was unveiled on Friday, can be understood to be the top authorities' awareness of the importance of national security to the country's overall development.

It is not that the previous leadership paid less attention to this issue. It is because China has entered a special stage with historical opportunities for its development, but at the same time both national and international security issues have become increasingly complicated and call for particular policies that target not just the symptoms but also the root causes of some security threats.

For example, the frequent terrorist attacks in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region point to the increasing threat China faces from separatists, extremists and terrorists. A crackdown is definitely necessary, but that is not enough on it own, political wisdom is needed so that policies are implemented that make it as difficult as possible for extremism to take root anywhere in the country.

With the launch of a new round of reforms, contradictions between vested interests or between different social groups might also pose threats to national security. The manufacturing of narcotics involving several villages in Guangdong province is a case in point.

As far as the international situation is concerned, the security issues China faces are even more intricate. On the one hand, China must maintain and protect its territorial integrity and national sovereignty. On the other hand, China, as a responsible country, whose leaders have reiterated many times it is committed to a peaceful rise, must do its bit in maintaining world peace.

The connotations of national security are much more extensive today than they used to be, particularly so for a big country such as China.

In the making of national policies, even on issues such as agricultural production or development of a particular industry or locality, security issues must be taken into consideration.

So it is indeed more than necessary to have such a top-level mechanism to coordinate the efforts of different security departments to safeguard the interests of the country.

(China Daily USA 01/27/2014 page11)