China’s new diplomatic theory on international relations, with win-win cooperation at the core and the community of common destiny, is progressive in the development of human society and helpful to the realization of eternal world peace and sustainable economic development of all countries. It emerged in the new era based on the scientific judgment that the world trend is for peace and development. As economic globalization is surging forward and information technology is constantly breaking new ground via the Internet, the whole world is becoming an“Earth village”. Common interests of all countries in the world are multiplying, and their contacts and exchanges are so frequent that any single country cannot comfortably live separated from others. It is crystal clear that defending world peace and intensifying exchanges and cooperation among nations are the most popular endeavor while destructive military conflicts and wars, are against the wishes of the people of all countries. Therefore, it is timely to call for the construction of a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation at the core of a community of common destiny for mankind.
China has a peace-loving tradition since ancient times, and the Chinese people have always aspired for a world where people of all countries live in harmony. So Beijing’s new diplomatic theory is a continuation of the fine Chinese historical and cultural traditions, reflected in the opportunities of a new era. China’s foreign policy has been for peace, and based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, as well as on the United Nations Charter and its basic principles. China’s new diplomatic theory stresses two key points. One is that all countries should work together to build up and benefit from a world security structure under which justice is upheld. And the other is that win-win cooperation gives consideration to the reasonable concerns of other countries when one country seeks its own interest while simultaneously promoting common development for all.
China has been doing its utmost to put into practice this new diplomatic theory in the new era. Whether dealing with bilateral affairs, or handling multilateral matters in international organizations such as the UN, G-20, APEC, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, China has always put the expansion of exchange and cooperation first, while trying its best to reduce or eliminate differences with the constructive approach of non-confrontation and non-conflict based on mutual respect. China’s increasing support and implementation of its Belt-and-Silk Road plan as well as in the operation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank help to demonstrate China’s serious practice of the new diplomatic theory.
China’s new diplomatic theory is of particular importance to the smooth and healthy development of Sino-U.S. relations as the two countries exert increasingly influence on the world. China has made great efforts to help people in the U.S. understand China’s strategic intentions and development orientation with the central ideas for peace, common security and common development.. Nevertheless, Beijng is astonished to find some books, research papers, political fantasies and imaginary fictions produced by some people in the US to paint China as a villain or a war-monger that is extremely antagonistic towards the U.S. These are the people with a deep-rooted Cold War mentality and zero-sum game logic. The book entitled “The Coming Conflict with China” in the 1990s, followed by the political fantasy audio-visual pictures fabricating “China’s Liberation Army Occupies the U.S. Capitol Hill with the five-star red flag fluttering atop”, the imaginative fabrication of China’s replacement of Japan to launch future surprise attacks on the Pearl Harbor naval base by “Ghost Fleet”, and the most recent untenable assessments and conclusions about future nuclear war between China and the U.S. all go totally against China’s new diplomatic theory and practice. They have used outdated American logic of power politics and military strategy, rather than China’s cultural traditions and current foreign policy, as the bases for depicting China.
Their central logic is that any large country going strong must seek hegemony, thus menacing the U.S. hegemonic position in the world. But this logic does not apply to China. China will never seek hegemony in the world no matter how strong it becomes. It will never seek to replace the U.S. to exercise hegemony in the world. That is the key to the correct understanding of a China with a history of over 5000 years’ civilization.
