The United States and China should broaden their cooperation, and China's notion of a "harmonious world" would be a good platform for U.S.-China cooperation, former U.S. National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski told reporters in Beijing on Tuesday.

"Thirty years ago, we had a common threat in the Soviet Union and therefore we had a strategic interest in coming together. Today we have a common interest in preventing massive instability and conflict in the world" and making the world function within a restructured international system, he said.

"That's a new common interest," Brzezinski said.

Brzezinski came to Beijing for a series of events that began Monday to mark the 30th anniversary of China-U.S. diplomatic relations.

"The notion of harmony, which China proposed, is exactly the right response to the danger of a clash of civilizations," Brzezinski said.

He emphasized that the concept of harmony was the only way to have a "decently stable and increasingly just world."

The notion of a harmonious world is a very good way to achieve the peaceful co-existence of countries with different cultural backgrounds, he added.

As two major members of the international community, the United States and China are seeing historical and even philosophical significance in their cooperation, according to Brzezinski.

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama will be inaugurated on Jan. 20. As to future U.S.-China relations, Brzezinski said the U.S.-China relationship needs to be raised to a higher level.

"No doubt the financial crisis is pushing almost all countries to a direction of increasingly defensive policies. However, it in the long run proves not very constructive," he said.

"I would not link the possible strengthening protectionism tendency to President-elect Obama. That is happening anyway ... Obama is much more international and more aware that in the 21st century, we have to cooperate."

The People's Republic of China is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2009. When asked to comment on the country's development in recent years, Brzezinski said that China is constructing something very new and different, which can not be described by a single word.

"A harmonious society" might be the best term for it, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2009)