South Korea, not in favor of Cold War rhetoric, is another US ally, but wants to play a balancing role.

The new South Korean President Lee Myung-bak may improve bilateral relations with the US, but it is doubtful he will join an alliance to contain China.

Third, while the "old friends" have become loosely connected in terms of containment of China, "new partners" will be harder to lure, not to mention India and ASEAN (The Association of South East Asian Nations).

India and China are busy building on their new strategic partnership of peace and prosperity", while ASEAN is boosting trade with China. All of them are China's friendly neighbors who support and help each other.

Although they will need cooperation and support from the US and Japan, they are not likely to work as partners in an "anti-China" alliance.

While the Western media has exaggerated India's participating in some political conferences and military exercises with the US and Japan, and referred to it as "containment of China", India has kept good relations with China and Russia.

China sticks to the road of peaceful development and the Good Neighbor and Friendship Policy. China not only says so, but also shows it by concrete actions.

Furthermore, China's peaceful rising has brought unprecedented opportunities to its Asian neighbors and the world, and hence forged common interests.

It is time those value-oriented idealists leave their dreams behind and create a harmonious society in the Asia-Pacific region.

The author is a Beijing-based researcher in international relations.

(China Daily March 26, 2008)