Those activities are not dedicated to a peaceful system. You can do that everywhere. What is there to peacefully interact in PvE?
Right, but it is a core pillar of this game.
Is it?
Can you achieve Elite Trader without killing anything? Yes
Can you achieve Elite Explorer without killing anything? Yes
Can you achieve Elite Combat without killing anything? No, so this rank is geared towards combat and requires a lot of kills to achieve.
Can you achieve the other ranks and avoid combat altogether? Yes, although it is hard at first it is possible to escape every NPC interdiction in the first place or learn to submit and high wake to avoid combat. Some evasion techniques may be necessary depending on where you trade. Not so much for exploration, just maybe when jumping in to sell data.
So 2 out of 3 ranks can be achieved without firing a shot if you don't want to. So how is it a core pillar of the game. What you mean is its easy to do combat if you want, yes it is, as it is easy not to if you don't want. Why is this so hard to grasp?