Outlying party [By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn]

"The world is not far away, but it is a little strange"– this is not a play on words, but instead an accurate description of many Chinese people's attitudes on contemporary international relations. As China becomes more active in participating in the global economy and in global dialogue, China must become more vocal in expressing its opinions.

China has more neighbors than any other country in the world. China's geo-political influence and peaceful rise in East Asia is the foundation for it to coexist harmoniously with its neighbors, but is also the source of certain points of friction.

As China and its neighbors have developed rapidly in recent years, friction in economic and trade exchanges and resource exploration has become increasingly prominent. How to deal with historical territorial disputes and interest conflicts properly with its neighbors will test the wisdom, courage and creativity of China's diplomacy.

From Feb. 7-17, eight countries including the U.S. held the 2012 "Cobra Gold" joint military exercise. With the exception of the U.S., the seven countries participating in the exercise were all from the Asia Pacific region. If we link this exercise with America's recent "return to Asia" strategy, as well as the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership (TPP), formed without China last year, we can understand the U.S.'s motives. Whether or not these alliances will disrupt the peaceful development of the Asia-Pacific region will surely be a focus of China's diplomats in coming years.

The official visits of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping to the US, Ireland and Turkey is China's first major diplomatic event this year. Since this year is an election year in the U.S., U.S.-China relations and the U.S. diplomatic strategy towards China will inevitably become part of campaign platforms for U.S. politicians.

Although campaign language is not often tandem to actual policy, China must continue to exercise prudence in its dealings with the U.S. during the increasingly polarized and politicized campaign season.

Discovering how to gain more benefits while respecting international law, the sovereignty of other nations and human rights is an imperative for China's diplomats. Working towards changing the current irrational international economic order is a long-term strategic goal towards which diplomats must keep a pragmatic attitude.

China's diplomatic strategy involves various aspects including national power projection, safeguarding national interests, creating a national image, and promoting national dignity. These strategic aspects attract much attention and are closely watched at home and from abroad. Facing direct, indirect, regional, global, bilateral and multilateral challenges, China's diplomacy has to examine past and find out the most effective ways to deal with the complicated international relations.

Besides government relations and public diplomacy, there is another arena -- non-governmental diplomacy -- which can make huge impact on public opinion worldwide. Such efforts include environmental protection and cultural heritage protection movements. Although it does not involve direct talks with other governments, non-government diplomacy is an important indicator of character of a country and its people.

Behavior comes from thinking, thinking comes from culture, and culture comes from tradition. As Singaporean scholar Zheng Yongnian said, China's "reaction-style diplomacy" or "defense-style diplomacy" stems from the Chinese traditional philosophy of "moderation". China's diplomacy is used to seek common points of interest while reserving the right to express differences. This reflects the Chinese way of thinking, but fails to account for real-world scenarios.

The level of interdependency between China and the rest of the world has surpassed any point in history. China's diplomacy should become more innovative and make changes to deal with increasingly complex global problems.

This post was first published in Chinese and translated by Lin Liyao.

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

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