China poses no threat to the United States, and there is no reason for the world's two pivotal powers to seek a confrontation of the Cold War model, said an article in Global Times.
With China rising economically and politically over recent years, some in the United States have feverishly preached a "China threat" theory.
The preachers maintain that China will develop into another major adversary of the United States following the former Soviet Union, its biggest Cold War rival.
Out of consideration to maintain the US single superpower status in the world or out of political and ideological purposes, they insist the United States should adopt a containment policy against China as they did against the former Soviet Union.
However, a careful comparison between Sino-US relations and the hostile US-Soviet Union relations proves the "China threat" dissemination does not hold water.
China has no military strength powerful enough to match the United States, the article said.
Since the break-up of the former Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the United States has become the world's sole superpower.
Its gross domestic product (GDP) takes up more than one-fourth of the world's total, and military expenditure is even larger than the aggregate of the eight other major military powers in its wake.
Besides, the United States possesses an unparalleled military deterrent force covering the whole world. Its gigantic soft military force is also incomparable to other countries, the article said.
As a developing country, China's GDP equates to only one-ninth to that of the United States. And its nuclear stockpile is a minute portion compared with the United States.
Obviously, China's limited military capability is only for self-defence purposes.
Despite a huge potential, China still needs at least 30-50 years to develop a national strength equivalent to the United States.
China has no ambition to seek hegemony, the article said.
Looking back at the history of the Soviet Union-US Cold War, the two countries had a strong desire to control others.
Shortly after the conclusion of the Yalta Conference, the two superpowers were eager to divide spheres of influence in Europe, create military alliances and develop a nuclear strategy of assured mutual destruction.
China, however, as a nation that has only recently broke away from foreign intrusion and control, consistently adheres to an independent foreign policy, and works towards a peaceful international environment for its economic and social construction.
China always advocates the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence in dealing with relations with other countries.
It is also China's basic foreign strategy not to form military alliances and groups with others.
To this end, China has not stationed its military forces in overseas regions.
China is firmly against hegemonism of various forms, and never will it pursue hegemony.
Since the reform and opening-up policy was initiated, China has been conducting wide-ranging exchanges and cooperation with the United States.
China's World Trade Organization membership and its predictable active involvement in the global trading system will provide more chances for the fusion of the two countries, according to the article.
Currently, the number of annual US tourists to China amounts to 800,000.
Last year, the Sino-US trade volume reached US$80.8 billion, and the volume of US actual investment in China has already reached US$34.5 billion.
The ever-increasing cooperation momentum between the two countries will provide more room for them to improve bilateral relations.
Unlike the United States and the former Soviet Union who did their utmost to spread their own values, social models and lifestyles during the Cold War, China will never define friends and rivals by ideological criteria, the article pointed out.
Despite its adherence to the socialist system, China has always advocated cultural diversity in international community, maintaining different civilizations should conduct dialogues and learn from each other.
As a nation under the influence of Confucianism from the ancient times, China consistently pursues a good-neighborly and friendly foreign policy, and bears no desire for territorial expansion.
All border strifes between China and its neighbors in the past half century were for the purpose of self-defence and China's territorial safety, the article pointed out.
The Chinese people long for peace with others and believe an equal and mutually-beneficial Sino-US relationship serves not only China but also the United States.
However, since the founding of New China, the article indicates, it was the United States that sometimes played a negative role in Sino-US relations.
The Taiwan question has proved to be the most sensitive and key issue in Sino-US relations. In essence, it has become a question because of the interference of the United States into China's internal affairs.
The longer the Taiwan question is detained, the more unfavorable it will become to Sino-US relations, the article said.
Despite some disagreements between the two countries, Sino-US relations are extremely different from Soviet Union-US relations.
China does not pose a threat to the United States, nor does it have the inclination to scramble with it for hegemony.
Even after becoming fully developed in the future, there will be more likeliness for China to coexist peacefully with the United States. Cooperation between the two countries in the fields of common concern will continue to increase.
However, conflicts and struggles in various realms between them will also exist within a foreseeable time.
But an optimistic prospect for Sino-US relations is possible if the two countries properly deal with each other and make joint efforts to solve disputes between them, the article said.
(China Daily June 28, 2002)
