China's new security concept under multilateral diplomacy

When the Soviet Union was a global threat, the United States regarded China's place as being of rising strategic significance. After the Cold War, the United States still thought China's strength did not pose a genuine challenge. But after 2008, it has changed its thinking - it now thinks that China could pose a strategic threat.

While many American strategists regard China as a superpower, will they have any divergence of views on which country offers the best hope as an ally? Will they have any divergence of views on whether to use Japan to resist China?

Obviously, the consensus has made the United States decide to push Japan ahead in its Asia-Pacific alliance and aid it to block China in East Asia.

Security relations

China is trying to shape the regional environment in an initial way by means of patrol around the Diaoyu Islands, the establishment of the Air Defense Identification Zone and the establishment of Sansha City as a strategic toehold in the South China Sea. It is hard to say that every step has succeeded, but it is good to grasp the overall initiative and situation.

As a rising nation, China finds it is falling behind on protecting its rapidly increasing overseas interests. It has therefore had to raise the priority of security issues. Security cooperation between countries will lay the most solid foundation for bilateral relations.

Professor Yan Xuetong is dean of the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University.

The article was translated by Li Jingrong from the original version published in Chinese.

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