Abstract: On April 15, 2014, Xi Jinping creatively put forward the overall national security concept at the first plenary meeting of the Central National Security Council, emphasizing that "China should attach importance to both development issues and security issues. Development is the foundation of security and security is the condition of development". On November 18, 2021, the Political Bureau of the 19th CPC Central Committee reviewed and approved the National Security Strategy (2021-2025), stating that China will "adhere to safe development and promote the dynamic balance between high-quality development and high-level security." Xi Jinping 's scientific exposition on coordinating development and security provides an important theoretical basis for promoting the construction of the national security system in the new era. Achieving the positive interaction between high-quality development and high-level security on the track of the rule of law is the concretization of important conclusions such as "coordinating development and security", "realizing the positive interaction between high-quality development and high-level security" and "promoting the modernization of the state governance system and governance capacity on the track of rule of law" proposed by Xi Jinping, further enriches the profound connotation of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law and the overall national security concept, and provides a solid theoretical foundation for comprehensively building a modern socialist state on the track of the rule of law. Coordinating the relationship between development and security is an inevitable requirement for further comprehensively deepening reform and promoting Chinese-style modernization. High-quality development inevitably requires high-level security. China should coordinate development and security on the track of the rule of law so as to better serve Chinese-style modernization.

Author: Mo Jihong, member of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; director and research fellow, CASS Institute of Law; and vice chairmen of China Law Society.

Source: 13 (2025) Democracy and Legal System.