III. Characteristics of China's Path of Peaceful Development

1. Peace and Harmony:Development of China's Diplomatic Thoughts and Policies Featuring“Preference for Harmony”

Rather than being expedient, the concept of peace and harmony embodies the Chinese diplomatic tradition of“preference for harmony”. In traditional Chinese culture, “harmony”is rich in connotation.Confucianism speaks highly of“agreeing to disagree”, upholding it as a primary principle for dealing with interpersonal relations and pursuing a state in which human beings live in harmony with nature and society while fully acknowledging difference and diversity.

Expressing emotions modestly and justly, also the essence of Confucianism, focuses more on moderation, propriety, balance and coordination, and aims at an ideal state—social harmony achieved on the basis of morality. While the other two concepts—“harmony is most valuable”and“harmony eases off contradictions”, give direct expression to Chinese culture's focus on peace and harmony and its emphasis on easing tensions, eliminating confrontation and avoiding wars.

Taoism also advocates“universal love”and“non-offence”, opposing fight and contradiction while supporting peace and mutual benefit. These concepts undoubtedly reveals pacifism rooted in Chinese culture and reflects the Chinese national character—belief in coexistence and inclusiveness and pursuit of harmony and win-win relationship.

These core concepts in traditional Chinese culture have laid foundation for the tradition of China's diplomatic thoughts. Looking back to the Chinese history, China had always been sticking to the geopolitical concept of taking a world perspective. This is true of all dynasties in Chinese history, whether it's the Tang Dynasty that brought China to the peak of prosperity, or the Qing Dynasty that pushed China to the verge of bankruptcy. They had been emphasizing that China was the center of the world and Chinese culture was superior to that of others, which shaped China's“more defensive than aggressive”military mentality and accounted for China's choice of maintaining comparatively stable and peaceful surrounding order through tributary system.

The surrounding countries paid the tribute while still possessing their independent sovereignty. They were under the favor of China but free from any interference from China in their internal affairs, much less colonial rule. Ancient China's perspective on the world order and its foreign policies in accordance with this perspective all revealed distinct intention for peace and harmony. A case in point is ancient China's naval expeditions which were earlier than any other country in the world. These expeditions were not for the purposes of invasion or colony, but for the purpose of establishing peaceful relationship with other countries under the principle of“harmony is most precious”, “non-attack”and“moralizing”.

After the founding of People's Republic of China, peace and harmony remain the core content of China's diplomatic thoughts and political practice. As early as 1949, Chinese government announced in Common Program that the general objective for China's peaceful diplomacy is to strive for independence, democracy, peace and unification of China and to stand up for the durable peace of the world and the friendly cooperation of all nations. In the mid 1950s, Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence was proposed by China—mutual respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit and peaceful coexistence, further revealing the nature of China's peaceful diplomacy. Five Principles received universal applause in the international community since it made explicit China's consistent stand of opposing invasion and safeguarding peace, and China's good intention of seeking equal-footed cooperation between countries. As a result, more than as the primary principle for communication between China and other countries, Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence was widely recognized by the international community as the basic principles for international relations. In 1955, at the historic Asian-African Conference, in order to conciliate conflicts and bring about unity between developing countries, Chinese delegation led by Premier Zhou Enlai put forward the guideline of“seeking common ground while reserving differences”which means to seek the foundation for cooperation between countries on the basis of acknowledging the differences in social systems and cultures. This guideline conveyed China's good intention of keeping peaceful and friendly relationship with other countries, fundamentally reflected the essence of traditional Chinese culture—agree to disagree, and laid the foundation for the concept of“maintaining the diversity of the world”and“constructing a harmonious world”. And the 1950s and 1960s witnessed remarkable achievement China made under the guidance of these important principles and guidelines. What's more, China's launching of Sino-American ambassadorial talks and the civil diplomacy with Japan and its resolution of boundary disputes with some of its neighboring countries paved the way for obtaining the international support on a larger scale, as well as highlighting the nature of China's peaceful diplomacy.

In the 1970s, Comrade Mao Zedong put forward Three Worlds Theory on the basis of close examination of the international situation of the time. Comrade Deng Xiaoping extended this theory by pointing out that“as a socialist country, China will always belong to the Third World, and will never seek hegemony”. Three Worlds Theory is a conspicuous anti-hegemony flag China holds, demonstrating China's stance of valuing equality, independence and sovereign integrity while opposing to superpowers' impairing of the world peace through hegemony.

In the 1980s, the reform and opening-up policy was carried out and economic construction was made top priority. China's diplomacy was accordingly confronted with new situation and expecting new tasks. Comrade Deng Xiaoping pointed out that there are two outstanding issues in the world today. One is the question of peace, the other the relationship between the North and the South. The issue of peace involves East-West relations, while the issue of development involves North-South relations. In short, countries in the East, West, North and South are all involved, but the North-South relations are the key issue. It is on the basis of the assessment of the situation that Chinese government put forward its independent foreign policy of peace and nonalignment policy, asserted its determination to oppose hegemony and safeguard world peace and proposed establishing new international political and economic order, which indicated China's pursuit of a harmonious world. Under the guidance of the independent foreign policy of peace, China carried out creative diplomatic practice. For example, Chinese government worked out the“one country, two systems”model as a policy frame for settling the Hong Kong problem and Macao problem; With regard to the problem of the South China Sea, China proposed the principle of“shelving differences and seeking joint development”. These all demonstrate China's sincerity in its pursuit of peace in diplomatic work.

Immediately after the Cold War, the international situation was rendered more complicated by the drastic change of the East European countries and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and China was under tremendous pressure due to the sanction imposed by western countries. Confronted with this situation, Deng Xiaoping pointed out empathetically that we should“observe the situation coolly”, “hold our ground”, “act calmly”, and“We are prepared to maintain contacts and make friends with everyone. We are against any country that practices hegemonism. We are against any country that commits aggression against others”. Meanwhile, China sticks to the strategic thought of“keeping a low profile and making positive contributions”, endeavoring to obtain the goal of peace and harmony by avoiding conflict and confrontation with the US while actively pushing forward the establishment of a new international political and economic order.

As of the mid 1990s, rapid growth of overall national strength, continuously expanding international influence and the consequent“China Threat”argument led to China's reassessment of the international situation. Chinese government chose to discard the Cold War mentality, adopted a completely new perspective and put forward the“new security concept”and the concept of“diversity of the world”. In 1999, at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Comrade Jiang Zemin elaborated on the content and significance of the new security concept, pointing out that“the core of such a new concept of security should be mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and cooperation. The five principles of mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality, mutual benefit and peaceful coexistence and other universally recognized norms governing international relations make up the political foundation underpinning world peace. Mutually beneficial cooperation and common prosperity constitute the economic guarantee for world peace.” The new security concept is in line with the general trend of international situation after the Cold War, explicitly demonstrating China's good intention to avoid conflict and confrontation and seek peace and cooperation.

What the new security concept conveys is China's good intention for peace, while what the concept of“diversity of the world”conveys is China's wish for a harmonious world. In 2000, Comrade Jiang Zemin pointed out at the United Nations Millennium Summit that, “The world is diverse and colorful. Just as there should not be only one color in the universe, so there should not be only one civilization, one social system, one development model or one set of values in the world. Each and every country and nation has made its own contribution to the development of human civilization. It is essential to fully respect the diversity of different nations, religions and civilizations, whose coexistence is the very source of vigorous development in the world. We should promote the exchanges between different civilizations in a spirit of equality and democracy and encourage them to learn from one another in order to attain common progress.” On this basis, President Hu Jintao further pointed out that“Cultural diversity is a basic feature of both human society and today's world and an important driving force for human progress...Differences in social system and development model should not stand in the way of exchanges among civilizations, still less should they become excuses for mutual confrontation. We should uphold the diversity of the world, enhance dialogue and interaction between civilizations, and draw on each other's strength instead of practicing mutual exclusion. When this is done, mankind will enjoy greater harmony and happiness and the world will become a more colorful place to live in.” The concept of“diversity of the world”is consistent with China's long-held concept of“agree to disagree”and“seek common ground while reserving differences”. It represents the essence of“a harmonious world”concept and becomes one of China's core diplomatic concepts with far-reaching influence.

Another important diplomatic thought is“to be a big country of responsibility”, initiated by Chinese government in the 1990s. Since then, “to be a big country of responsibility”becomes an important concept of Chinese government. In 2006, at the welcoming banquet hosted by Prime Minister John Winston Howard of the Commonwealth of Australia, Premier Wen Jiabao pointed out in his speech entitled China on the Path of Development for World Peace and Prosperity that“Anyone without bias can easily see that while working to develop itself, China is, through its own acts, playing a responsible role in the world”. The diplomatic concept of“being a big country of responsibility”sends an unequivocal message that China will maintain the status quo and the stability of international system. This concept is explicitly demonstrated in China's broad engagement in international system, implementation of a national defense policy that is defensive in nature, the active part it plays in international cooperation in anti-terrorism, and concrete actions it takes to fulfill its WTO commitment. It thus becomes a supplement to the concept of peace and development and the concept of a harmonious world.

2. Identification and Construction:A New Type of Interaction Between China and the I nternational System

After reform and opening-up and the Cold War in particular, China takes the advantage of the comparatively peaceful and stable international environment and achieves rapid economic growth and consequent soaring overall national strength. However, despite the growth of material strength, the pattern of China's international behavior with peace as its nature remains unchanged. China still upholds the concept of peace and harmony, exercising prudence and restraint in handling foreign relations and safeguarding the stability of international system with great caution. This shows that material elements, without the functioning of concepts, would be void of all social significance, and the concept that China adopts remains the decisive factor for China's choice over whether she would take the path of peaceful development or seek expansion and hegemony. Growing national strength under the guideline of peace and development concept will by no means become destructive power. On the contrary, it will add to the defending power for the international system. Though some countries still view China as their enemy to certain extent, we should be aware of the emerging benign interactive relationship between China and some of its surrounding countries who recognize China as their friend. This, in turn, strengthens China's will to take the path of peaceful development.

Before the reform and opening-up, China was excluded from the international system for various international and domestic reasons. But after the reform and opening-up, China quickly integrated itself into the present international system through its learning and recognizing of various norms of the international system. Considerable advantage resulting from the present international system makes China one of the main beneficiaries of the system, which in turn motivates China to learn more about the system and strengthens China's identification with it. For instance, China's broad engagement in multilateral international cooperation mechanisms of various fields provides China a favorable platform to learn international norms. Especially after the Cold War, China has more broadly engaged in international regimes and identified with them to a greater degree. China's engagement in international regimes before the Cold War was more or less out of consideration of its own actual costs and benefits, but its sequent engagement in multilateral mechanisms of international cooperation as disarmament, environmental protection and human rights more explicitly manifests its identification with these regimes and the values they emphasize.

As a big rising country, China's concept of peace and harmony influences, to a certain degree, the construction of international system, pushing it towards the direction of advancement and progress. What China's concept of peace and harmony advocates is discarding the use of military force, safeguarding world peace and security, enhancing mutual trust, mutual nonaggression and mutually beneficial cooperation and living in harmony while acknowledging and respecting each other's differences. In nature, all these agree with the values of the present international system. What's more important, to spread this concept is not to challenge or overthrow the present international system, but to stand up for it and maintain it. As a big rising country whose international influence keeps expanding fast, China will serve as a special and effective transmission mechanism, bringing the concept of peace and harmony to the attention of more countries of the international community and making it widely recognized by the international system and international community through interactions between countries. And China will make pioneering contribution to the international community through its adherence to the path of peaceful development and the vital role it plays in promoting the construction of a harmonious world and the development of the international system.

3. Competition and Win-Win Progress:New Pattern of the Relationship Between China and the International Community

China's concern over peace and harmony, its integration into the international system and its determination to maintain it shouldn't be interpreted as China's ignorance or negation of competitions and disorders prevailing in the present international community. On the one hand, Afghanistan and Iraq are still ravaged by war; sign of peace is still nowhere to be found in the Middle East; tensions on the Korean Peninsula continue to spiral up; terrorism still poses a major threat to world peace and stability; climate change and environment pollution bring about critical challenges that confront every country. On the other hand, instead of forming effective cooperation on these important issues, there's a growing tendency toward competition among countries concerned, especially among major powers, which is exemplified both in the geopolitical competition among major powers centering on global and regional political and security issues and in the economic competition as a result of major powers fighting for economic rights and interests and endeavoring for economic recovery after the global financial crisis.

Among the present international relations, the competitive relation will undoubtedly exist for a long time, so will the various phenomena of disorder, which constitutes the essential international condition for China's path of peace and development and concept of constructing a harmonious world. But competition is also an important pathway by which China integrates itself into the international community and carries out peaceful development. Reform and opening-up strategy, recently implemented“going global”strategy, and entry into WTO all aim at fundamentally pushing forward China's economic development through enhancing its own international competence on the basis of engaging in orderly international competition.

It's noteworthy that the competition China stands up for is not the zero-sum game for political and economic interests. China's concept of peaceful development and a harmonious world reveals the immanent logic of achieving a win-win situation through benign competition. China will unswervingly follow a win-win strategy of opening-up, and continue to contribute to regional and global development through our own development, and expand the areas where our interests meet with those of various sides. While securing our own development, we will accommodate the legitimate concerns of other countries, especially other developing countries. Meanwhile, China will uphold the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, observe international law and universally recognized norms of international relations, and promote democracy, harmony, collaboration and win-win solutions in international relations. Politically, all countries should respect each other and conduct consultations on an equal footing in a common endeavor to promote democracy in international relations. Economically, they should cooperate with each other, draw on each other's strengths and work together to advance economic globalization in the direction of balanced development, shared benefits and win-win progress. Especially when dealing with relationship with its neighboring countries, China has been upholding the principle of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, asserting that China will never seek benefits for itself at the expense of other countries or shift its troubles onto others. Thus，Competition and win-win progress is an inevitable approach to China's peaceful development and the construction of a harmonious world.

4. Common Development and Common Interests:China and the World in the Age of Globalization

As is expounded above, China is endeavoring to establish a new identity as the vindicator of the international system through recognizing and integrating into the present international system. According to Constructivism, identities provide the basis for state interests. In the context of globalization, as the vindicator of the international system, China's interests lie in its pursuit of common development of all countries and the consequent common interests, which is far beyond its own benefit. This is because common development of all countries and the expanding of common interests are vital to China's peaceful development, and this is an integral dimension of China's concept of a harmonious world.

In recent years, the Chinese government and its leaders have expounded the concept of“common development”and“common interests”on various important occasions. For instance, Report to the Sixteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China reads that the purpose and goal of China's diplomacy is to maintain world peace and promote common development, and China would like to join hands with people of all the other countries to further the noble cause of world peace and development. As for“common interests”, according to the Report, we stand for going along with the historical tide and safeguarding the common interests of mankind. We are ready to work with the international community to boost world multipolarization, promote a harmonious coexistence of diverse forces and maintain stability in the international community. We will promote the development of economic globalization in a direction conducive to common prosperity, draw on its advantages and avoid its disadvantages so that all countries, particularly developing countries, can benefit from the process. In September,2005, at the Summit celebrating the 60th anniversary of the UN, President Hu Jintao delivered the speech entitled Build towards a Harmonious World of Lasting Peace and Common Prosperity, in which he unequivocally identified“common development”as one of the numerous dimensions of“a harmonious world”. Later, the white paper on China's Peaceful Development again reads that China's peaceful development is to keep with the trend of economic globalization, striving for common development and mutually beneficial and win-win progress with all the other countries when handling international relations, we should insist on proceeding from the common interests of people from all the countries and seek to expand the areas where our interests meet with those of various sides, enhancing understanding through communication, beefing up cooperation through understanding and achieving win-win progress through cooperation. And it is reiterated in the Report to the Seventeenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China that we'll continue to promote regional and world common development through our own development and seek to expand the areas where our interests meet with those of various sides.

In the context of globalization, it's of profound significance that China puts forward“common development”and“common interests”in the course of its peaceful development. First, the proceeding economic globalization leads to increasing interdependence between economies and stronger correlations of interests of countries. The whole world is now bound together for good or ill. In this sense, common development of all economies is the fundamental guarantee for the sustainable economic development of each country and the expanding common interests are necessary for each country to obtain its own interests. Only in this context, can China have the favorable condition for its peaceful development, namely durable peace of international community.

Meanwhile, promoting the“common development”of all countries and expanding the areas of“common interests”are indispensable for materializing China's concept of peaceful development and a harmonious world. China persists in its pursuit of harmony and development internally while pursuing peace and development externally; the two aspects, closely linked and organically united, are an integrated whole, and will help to build a harmonious world of sustained peace and common prosperity. It's obvious then that without the common development of all countries, the peace and stability of the international community wouldn't be possible and without expanding the common interests of all countries, a harmonious world wouldn't be possible. At the same time, by upholding“common development”and“common interests”, China tries to ease the panic of other countries aroused by China's rapid development, sending a clear message that China's development will help the common development of other countries and China's interests are in line with those of the international community instead of contradictory to them. This will undoubtedly push forward China's peaceful development and the construction of a harmonious world.“Common development”and“common interests”have become an important guideline of China on handling relations with other countries. With regard to its neighboring countries and developing countries, China puts“common development”first, devoting itself to promoting the development of other countries through its own development, carefully and properly dealing with such problems as trade friction, and striving for common development on the basis of mutually beneficial cooperation. China is an active participant in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, ASEAN“10+3”mechanism, Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation Program and China-ASEAN cooperation, and is assisting developing countries in various ways while striving for the Millennium Development Goals（MDGs），all of which are China's diplomatic practice aiming at common development and expanding common interests. With regard to the superpower, the US and other western powers, China puts before other things“common interests”in the context of globalization. Through establishing partnership, strengthening cooperation for new growth point of common interests, stressing the same interests and goals, China makes it clear that it has no intention of challenging the present international system. In recent years, China has established partnership with numerous western powers, such as the“Sino-Russian equal and trustworthy strategic partnership of cooperation aiming at the 21st century”, the“Sino-French comprehensive strategic partnership”, and the“Sino-US partnership of jointly coping with common challenges”, etc. And China has expanded common interests and areas of cooperation with western powers on numerous issues such as anti-terrorism, nonproliferation, environment protection, elimination of poverty around the world.

To sum up, the concept of“common development”and“common interests”put forward in recent years conveys China's strong wish for peaceful development, demonstrates China's responsibility awareness, exhibits the important means of constructing a harmonious world and more clearly defines the basic approach to avoiding the tragedy of power politics. China who seeks to work with other countries for common development and common interests will definitely contribute to the stability of international system and the progress of the world.