China adheres to its peaceful development road and tries to
establish and maintain harmonious relations with other countries in
the world, said Yang Yi, Director of the Institute for Strategic
Studies, National Defense University of China, in Singapore
Thursday.
"In the future, China will continue its clear geo-strategic
options in order to maintain and prolong its period of strategic
opportunity that has been proved to be in the right direction,"
said Yang at the Regional Outlook Forum held by Singapore's
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
He admitted that China's international role has been changing
with its ever-strengthening power while its rapid economic
development has an important and positive impact on the evolution
of geo-strategic patterns in the Asia Pacific region.
"China will need a strong military force to protect its national
interests. As in the past, China will continue to adhere to
defensive military strategy," Yang explained, adding that the
strengthening Chinese military forces will be conducive to regional
peace and stability.
Reiterating that China advocates to establish harmonious
international relations, Yang said that China will try to form a
stable and healthy relationship with the United States, instead of
challenging or confronting the latter or replacing its role as a
dominant power.
"It is undesirable for China to see other Asia Pacific countries
becoming a 'sandwich' between the
US and China with no other choice, either siding with the US or
with China," Yang said.
He continued that China will stick to principle when it comes to
Sino-Japan relations. China will seek common ground while
shelving differences between the two nations to build a win-win
relationship of cooperation.
As for India, Yang said that China "will make efforts to enhance
the strategic partnership of cooperation and join in hands with
India to follow the common peaceful development road".
China will also cultivate all-dimension cooperation in economy,
politics and security with members of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN), which include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia,
Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam, according to Yang.
(Xinhua News Agency January 6, 2006)
