China’s top leader first mentioned the overall national security concept at the first meeting of the National Security Commission of the Communist Party of China on Apr 15, 2014. Over the past eight years the concept has been continuously developed and implemented in various fields, and China’s national security has been comprehensively strengthened.

National security involves multiple elements, such as people’s security, food security, financial security, network security, and biological security.

Deepening understanding and awareness of national security will enrich the content of overall national security, which is the total sum of all citizens, all fields, all aspects, and all levels of security in a country.

The establishment of national security commissions at the central and local levels has dispelled the decades-old “misunderstanding” where people equated national security with espionage and intelligence gathering work. It lets them see that the work of the Ministry of National Security and the national security bureaus at local levels is only a portion of the national security work. That needs to be coordinated by the central and local national security commissions.

The support from education, system, rule of law and strategy is also needed to comprehensively guarantee national security from a strategic perspective. To this end, the new National Security Law treats April 15 as the National Security Education Day to enhance people’s national security awareness.

In recent years, people have been raising awareness about national security. In January 2021, national security became one of the important disciplines of China’s higher education, which will certainly enhance awareness about national security among the youth.

The overall national security concept is one that is constantly evolving and continuously enriched for the interest of the people and the whole country. After all, national security has to be upheld in every sector and every aspect of social life to guarantee the well-being of the people.

The author is a professor of public administration at University of International Relations. The views don’t necessarily represent those of China Daily.