China's security concept conducive to regional peace

SINGAPORE - At the three-day Shangri-La dialogue, Chinese delegates actively advocated and elaborated a new security concept for Asia. This concept has won widely acclamation because it is conducive to the regional peace and prosperity, experts said.

"The security concept for Asia is quite reasonable. Interdependency and Interconnection is bound to happen in the region...Against this backdrop, the concept building is in line with the development needs of the region, which will lay a solid foundation for the development of Asia," said Professor Huang Jing, director of the institute on Asia and globalization of national university of Singapore.

Li Mingjiang, associate professor of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, also held the view that the concept, especially the part of common and cooperative security, is in the long-term interests of the region.

Chinese President Xi Jinping recently put forth the security concept for Asia featuring common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security at the fourth Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia.

Kishore Mahbubani, Dean and Professor in the Practice of Public Policy of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, said that he is glad that China has issued a new proposal for regional security.

"It's good for China to take the lead to propose new ideas to keep the region stable, " he told Xinhua.

China's proposed security concept for Asia gained ground also for the reason that this strategy highlights the priority of development in this region when retaining regional security.

Oh Ei Sun, senior research fellow at Nanyang Technology University of Singapore and former political secretary to the Malaysian prime minister, commented that more attention should be focused on development instead of stirring up clashes.

"Development and security are interconnected...When all people in the region are better off economically, disputes will be naturally abating, " he said.

The Shangri-La Dialogue has been one of the key events for defense professionals in the region to exchange views on security issues. Wang Guanzhong, deputy chief of the general staff of People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China, led the Chinese delegation to the dialogue this year. China's veteran female diplomat Fu Ying also attended the meeting.

Wang and Fu, together will other Chinese delegates, expound China's point of view on security during the dialogue and discussion with other parties on ways to jointly safeguard regional peace, security and stability.

However, there is still a long way to go to truly implement the Asian security concept. While China endeavors to play a constructive role in maintaining Asian security order, Japan and the United States, with or without directly naming it, targeted China provocatively and groundlessly at the Shangri-La Dialogue and other occasions.

The essential mindset of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is revival of militarism, which can be easily sensed through Abe's speech, while the United States' intention lies in safeguarding the interests of its own and allies at the cost of the interests of other countries.

Fu Ying earlier said at the forum that she was surprised by some of the languages at the Shangri-La Dialogue, which she said were "more like in the 20th century than in the 21st century."

Confrontation can not bring peace and prosperity to the region. The inclusiveness, on the contrary, should be the right choice for Asia, and it is one of the core values of the new security concept for Asia.

"Actually, the new security concept put forth by China creates a new inclusive strategy. All the countries, regardless of size, can participate in the process of building the concept. Countries beyond this region are also welcomed to be part of it," Li Mingjiang noted.