Diplomacy with neighbors

The disputes over rights and interests left over from history have intensified competition for resources. Also complicating the regional situation are the overflow effect on China due to regional disorderly competition, and the suspicion caused by China's fast rise that is reshaping the regional power balance. Adding to the uncertainties is high-profile involvement of the US, which is forcefully carrying out its rebalancing strategy to the Asia-Pacific region and inciting confrontation inside the region.

Faced with the complicated surrounding environment, Chinese decision-makers have focused on resolving the disputes and forging win-win cooperation, and as a rising power actively designing and providing programs that benefit the peoples in neighboring countries and the region.

China is also incorporating some new ideas into its diplomacy with neighboring countries, which is reflected in the close interaction between China's new leadership and their counterparts in neighboring countries this year, and the change from reactive to proactive diplomacy that looks to safeguard rights and stability simultaneously.

The design of this new diplomacy is based on China's development objectives. Xi stressed during his speech that dealing with neighboring countries "should have a three-dimensional, multi-element perspective, beyond time and space", and he proposed working with China's neighbors to establish a Silk Road Economic Belt and a maritime Silk Road for the 21st century. This is undoubtedly a grand, forward-looking strategy of great geopolitical significance, and with its diplomatic strategy established, resources will naturally be allocated to back it up.

China has committed itself to the policy of fostering a harmonious, secure and prosperous neighboring environment. As members of the same global village with a common destiny, Xi's proposal that countries in the region should foster a sense of community is a vision that can help promote a shared identity and the integration of interests between China and its neighbors. Needless to say, China's development has and will continue to bring more opportunities to its neighbors. However, its growing influence has also made some countries nervous about its intentions.

In this regard, Beijing should consider the feelings of neighboring countries, outline China's development goals in a clear way, and turn China's development into an important driving force that improves the lives of people in the region as a whole. To win its neighbors' support, China's diplomacy must be principled and moral diplomacy. China must stick to the values of justice and joint benefits and make righteousness itself an interest.

The author is associate dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai.

(China Daily 10/30/2013 page8)