More security challenges

If these are not enough, the US has joint declarations with Japan and Australia on coping with challenges in the Asia-Pacific region. All these have sent the world a clear message that the US is wary of China's growing national strength.

The structural dilemma exists not only between China and US. Other countries, like Japan and the Philippines, also are confronting China, and seek to obtain benefits from the antagonism.

For example, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe could well take use of worsening relations with China to persuade the Japanese Parliament to edit Japan's current "peace Constitution", Article 9 of which renounces war and forbids Japan from maintaining a war footing. The Philippines government could also benefit from rising nationalism.

To cope with these challenges, China needs to adjust its national security strategy. Actually, that's what China has been doing. Since the 18th Party Congress in November, official documents began to list China's foreign strategy as "sovereignty, security and development", which means that China is paying more attention to security. Being aware of its structural dilemma with the US, China does not want any unnecessary confrontation. As a solution, China's leaders have raised the idea of establishing a new type of major-power relationship with the US, the central value of which would be to keep their competition "healthy", peaceful, and, if possible, mutually beneficial.

China's security strategy also places emphasis on its relations with its neighbors. During his visit to Central Asian and Southeast Asian countries, Xi has mentioned both the "new Silk Road" and the "maritime Silk Road", and expressed China's sincere wishes of improving relations with its neighbors.

Further, Xi said that China should consider politics more in diplomacy and consider more help to countries that support China but still have difficulties developing their economies. Mutual help is essential to the community of common destiny that China and ASEAN countries are building; China will send more help to those in need for the common good of all.

Of course, these diplomatic endeavors don't mean China will give up national defense construction. On the contrary, China needs military potential as the bottom line. China's national defense construction experienced decades of stagnation in the latter half of the last century; even now its percentage of military spending in terms of GDP is still much lower than that of the US. It is rational and just for China to strengthen its national defense construction as a remedy.

Another job China is doing is establishing a new international model. In last year's World Peace Forum, held in Tsinghua University, Xi, then still the vice-president, raised the principle of win-win relations. Being extended to diplomacy, the initially economic phrase contains new meanings that both sides should be secure in a relationship and benefit from the security.

A new, universally accepted international norm is necessary for the win-win relations. The power of all can prevent any member from breaking the norm - and that's also necessary for peace in the future.

The author is dean of Institute of Modern International Relations, Tsinghua University. This is an excerpt of his speech at a recent press salon, held by the All-China Journalists Association.

(China Daily 10/14/2013 page8)