Beijing showed its openness and engagement to resolve disputes, as well as its determination to protect its territory, at an annual forum for security issues, observers said.

Qi Jianguo, deputy chief of general staff of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China delivers a speech at the 12th Shangri-La Dialogue on June 2, 2013. [guancha.cn]

Qi Jianguo, deputy chief of the general staff of the People's Liberation Army of China, said that to realize prosperity, stability and development of the Asia-Pacific region, one cannot merely rely on the efforts of a single nation, nor on expansion and plundering, and even less on an obsession with the use of force.

The only way forward is to take cooperation as the overriding principle, and that countries, whether big or small, are all equal and should respect one another, Qi told the 12th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on the weekend.

China upholds an open spirit of not only taking strides toward the world, but also welcoming the world to engage with China, with the purpose of sharing resources and jointly creating a better future, Qi said.

The forum, also called the Asia Security Summit, is organized by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

"There's no question that this year the PLA delegation has come very prepared to engage in dialogue," said John Chipman, director of the institute and the forum's organizer.

"The intensity of the Chinese engagement and the manner of their engagement is different," Chipman told Reuters.

Wu Shicun, director of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, said the forum is a good platform for other countries to learn more about China.

Dialogue: 'China hopes for peace'

China's dynamic growth in recent years has triggered regional scepticism over its peaceful intentions, Qi said.

However, he also emphasized that China's hope for sustained peace and stability, as well as its stress on dialogue and consultation, by no means denotes unconditional compromise.

"Our resolve and commitment to safeguarding core national interests always stand steadfast," said Qi.

China has territorial issues with other participants of the forum, including the Philippines and Vietnam over the South China Sea, and Japan over the Diaoyu Islands.

Yang Baoyun, a professor of Asia-Pacific studies at Peking University, said China will not remain indifferent when its core interests are threatened.

"China's words on this year's Shangri-La Dialogue help other players in the region better understand that territorial issues are the core interests of China and it is where China's bottom line lies," Yang said.

"This will help the countries better understand China's strategic attempts, and therefore deepen the trust among them, although differences on specific issues still remain," he said.

Zhang Tuosheng, a researcher at the China Foundation for International and Strategic Studies, said countries that have territorial issues with China had milder words during the forum, because they know they cannot achieve favorable results without China. However, he added that those countries are also influenced by the United States, which continued to push its Asia-pivot strategy.

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said at the forum that Washington will increase the deployment of ground forces and put 60 percent of the US air force overseas in the Asia-Pacific.

At the Shangri-La forum last year, Hagel's predecessor Leon Panetta said that the US would commit 60 percent of its naval forces to the region.

Although Hagel denied that Washington's increasing military presence targets China, Yang said it is obvious that the enhanced military power targets China since Washington doesn't want to lose dominance in the region.

Since China and the US have common as well as competing interests in the region, it's essential to build a new non-zero sum cooperative relationship, said Zhang.

He called for building an efficient mechanism to control the risks caused by the competition.

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