Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi yesterday warned Asia-Pacific nations that the rapidly developing region still faces many challenges, and urged them to support new thinking about security, making mutual trust and benefit, equality and cooperation core values and burying the legacy of the Cold War.
Addressing the 14th ASEAN Regional Forum in Philippine capital Manila, Yang said security should be "based on the diversity and common interests of the Asia-Pacific and must conform to the aspirations of the people and trends of the age."
Yang said peace, development and cooperation have remained the general trend in the Asia-Pacific region in the past year, with the economy maintaining strong growth and inter-dependence among countries growing.
But he warned that the region still faces many challenges, such as acute imbalances in development, a widening wealth gap, tensions and conflict.
The region is also facing security issues, such as natural disasters, the threat of epidemics and worries about energy, resources, and the environment, he added.
He warned that the legacy of the Cold War, had created a trend in certain countries of building bilateral military alliances in search of military superiority over others.
"This undermines efforts to build mutual political trust, causes uncertainty to regional security and has become a source of concern to people," he said.
Yang stressed the development of the regional security situation and upholding and sustaining hard-won peace was an issue of critical concern to all the countries.
He cited the ASEAN forum and Shanghai Cooperation Organization as examples of new thinking on security, pointing out that both of them were non-aligned, didn't target other countries and didn't define friend and foe on ideological grounds. Under this new thinking, he noted, security dialogue must focus on common interests, respect of diverse values and avoiding confrontation.
"To pursue cooperation based on a particular set of values runs counter to the goal of achieving common security and can only hamper dialogue and cooperation," he said.
As an example of the strength of dialogue he cited the Six-Party Talks, which have seen nations with widely different cultures and values come together to realize a mutual goal -the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Source: China Daily
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