China's peaceful diplomacy

The message president xi jinping conveyed in a speech on Saturday to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence could not be clearer: No country cherishes world peace so urgently and honestly as China does.

China proposed the five principles - mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence - as the basis for international relations in 1954.

True, international relations have been characterized by power politics, hegemony, unilateralism and the use of force in the settlement of disputes or conflicts. That explains why some politicians and countries continue to make a noise about the so-called China Threat now that China has risen to be the world's second-largest economy.

However, just as Xi said, there has never been a gene of hegemony in the blood of Chinese people, harmony is what is enshrined in traditional Chinese culture and it champions common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security.

Confucius' motto: don't do to others what you would not have them do to you, is the way China handles its relations with the rest of world.

The new type of major power relationship China has proposed establishing with the United States, the world's sole superpower, lets both countries accommodate the differences of the other with a view to both benefitting from their relationship.

The strategic partnerships China has established with other countries help the parties concerned benefit from cooperation.

Even on the question of territorial disputes with its neighbors, China maintains that negotiation is the proper way to settle them, and it has even proposed shelving the disputes and exploiting the resources together.

Meanwhile, China's military spending and modernization are always being questioned by some Western countries, who suggest it is aimed at hegemony.

This is either somewhat paranoid or has ulterior motives as it is natural for such a big country as China to build up its military capacity in order to defend itself against foreign invasion and to secure a peaceful environment for its national revival and development.

In addition, China, as a responsible country, has the obligation to protect world peace, how can it perform this duty without a capable military force?

To take it for granted that a country as powerful as China poses a threat to world peace is like saying a strong person will always attack others. Is that not a stupid way of thinking?

(China Daily 06/30/2014 page9)