Ancient History Night Talk｜National Security Catches the Economy, a Great Achievement in a Prosperous Age!

On December 13, 14, and 15, 2023, China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) issued a series of important statements over three consecutive days, focusing on the economy, marking the MSS as a significant driver of China’s economic development. This is clearly a great innovation since China’s reform and opening up.

Especially on December 15, the MSS published an article early in the morning titled “National Security Agencies Firmly Build a Barrier for Economic Security”, pointing out that the economic field is increasingly becoming an important battlefield for great power competition, with the complexity, severity, and uncertainty of the external environment rising. It further stated that to promote the economic recovery and improvement, it is necessary to overcome some internal difficulties and also address some external challenges. For example, various “clichés” that intend to denigrate the Chinese economy are constantly emerging, the essence of which is to attempt to construct a “narrative trap” and “cognitive trap” of “China’s decline” with various false narratives, so as to continuously attack and deny the socialist system and path with Chinese characteristics, and attempt to carry out strategic containment and suppression of China.

The article also pointed out that some people with ulterior motives, using the method of “thief crying thief”, maliciously fabricate false narratives such as “security replacing development”, “excluding foreign investment”, and “suppressing private enterprises”, rehashing the old tune of “China threat”, deliberately creating, provoking, and amplifying the so-called irreconcilable contradictions between security and development. Their real purpose is to disrupt market expectations and order, and to block the momentum of China’s economic improvement.

National security agencies will resolutely crack down on and punish illegal and criminal activities that endanger national security in the economic security field, creating a safe and stable environment for high-quality development; they will work with relevant departments to continuously and effectively prevent and resolve economic security risks, firmly守住 the bottom line of not causing systemic risks, and contribute the strength of national security to comprehensively promoting the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation with Chinese-style modernization.

In addition to these three days, in fact, in the previous month, the MSS has repeatedly mentioned issues such as economic security, business environment, and industrial policies. So, what kind of signal does this release?

Of course, this is to implement the deployment of the central economic work and reverse the expectations of many people about China’s economic weakness, “singing the praises of China’s economic prospects”.

China’s current economic situation is very good, but for some reason, there are always some people with ulterior motives who want to undermine this good momentum, deliberately saying that China is “security replacing development”, “excluding foreign investment”, and “suppressing private enterprises”. Obviously, this is denigrating China’s economy. For this reason, China’s MSS has issued articles for three consecutive days, focusing on the economy. This is not just for show, but rather, in future work, it will take打击 online harmful言论 about China’s economy as a key aspect. Whoever denigrates China’s economy will be severely打击, and whoever dares to speak and act recklessly on economic issues, the national security departments will definitely dare to manage and抓捕.

We believe that with the strong intervention of the national security departments, the optimistic view of China’s economy will definitely be sung, the momentum of China’s economy taking off will definitely continue to be maintained, China’s foreign trade will definitely further expand, foreign investment and foreign enterprises will definitely pour into China in large numbers, and China’s employment situation will definitely be in short supply… In short, in a word, with the strong intervention of the national security departments, China’s economy will definitely flourish.