ISLAMABAD: The Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) launched a dialogue series titled “South–South Network of Policy Experts on China’s Global Security Initiative (GSI)” in Islamabad.

The session featured senior diplomats, academics, and policy experts from across the Global South. The inaugural session opened with welcome remarks by President IRS, Ambassador Jauhar Saleem, who underscored the ongoing overlap of global crises and the failure of traditional zero-sum security structures.

He emphasised that China’s Global Security Initiative (GSI) and Global Development Initiative (GDI) offer a compelling and coordinated alternative based on common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security, with Pakistan well-positioned to benefit through regional policy coordination and shared innovation.

Pakistan’s former ambassador to China, Masood Khalid, outlined China’s three key global initiatives, the Global Development Initiative (GDI), Global Security Initiative (GSI) and Global Civilisation Initiative (GCI), emphasising their roots in China’s 5,000-year-old civilizational values of peace, mutual respect, and inclusive development. He viewed GSI as a Chinese quest for rejuvenation to reclaim its identity from the past.

Building on this, Mahdi Mohammed Gulaid, a former deputy prime minister of Somalia, emphasised that South–South cooperation was not just relevant, it was imperative and timely framework driven by an inclusive approach. He underscored that the South–South network of policy experts was not only strategic but essential, enabling co-develop solutions grounded in shared experiences and collective insight.

Iraqi-Swedish scholar and Vice-Chairman of the Belt and Road Institute in Sweden, Hussein Askari, highlighted the crisis in Gaza and Iran to stress that the world was at a crossroads between war and peace. He warned of a return to the law of the jungle if tensions go unmanaged.

Commenting on this, Imtiaz Gul, Executive Director CRSS, praised the GSI as a noble cause but argued that today’s fragmented international order was a challenge to its operationalisation.

Senior defence analyst and DG SAASI, Maria Sultan, underscored that sovereignty remained the core determinant of whether development and security can co-exist, especially for countries like Pakistan navigating fragile transitions.

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2025