What is China’ policy objective?

According to the US, China is vying for dominance in the Asia-Pacific. But that, from our point of view, is projecting the US’ own hegemony image on China.

China’s pursuit in the South China Sea has remained consistently to safeguard national interest of territorial integrity and maintain regional peace and tranquility.

To observe China, one should not lose sight of the historical dimension. Though China is growing into a strong country, the painful memory of history is fresh. The country stumbled into the 20th century with its capital under the occupation of the imperialists’ armies, and for over a century China suffered the humiliation of repeated foreign aggression and bulling. That is why the Chinese people are very sensitive about anything that is related to the loss of territorial and would never allow such recurrence even if an inch of land. This is something the outside world needs to keep in mind when trying to understand China’s behavior. 

Now that China is in a drive to make sure its economic target is attained and that it needs a peaceful external environment, particularly a peaceful neighborhood. The South China Sea offers the most important international transportation route which is also the lifeline for China. Our policy objective also includes to ensure freedom and safety of navigation. China needs to upgrade its capacity to better fulfill its responsibilities in this regard and achieve the purposes with the US too.

President Xi has proposed that China and the US move towards a new model of major-country relations, avoiding conflict, confrontation, respecting each other in cooperation. To achieve that we need to learn. China is a new comer on the world center stage but it should not try to copy the US. America also need to learn to work with countries like China which may be everything the US is not and may not be an ally, but it is should not be an enemy either.