"China is not simply an actor in the international system, but more importantly it constitutes the most dynamic part of ongoing structural change at a regional and global level," said Xu Xin from the Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Japan.

"Its regional security practice can be seen as a balancing act between seeking a peaceful and stable international environment, preserving its vital national interest over the Taiwan question and facilitating its peaceful rise against the backdrop of the reinforcement of the U.S.-led hegemonic stability and the late development of the ASEAN way of regional multilateralism."

The comments were made at a conference organized by Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

In recent years, China's defense capability has improved significantly, thanks to a strong rise in defense expenditure.

Between 2000 and 2005, China's defense spending doubled to $29.6 billion, allowing the military to spend on upgrading and purchasing weapons, training troops and improving communication, computer and intelligence.

Yet, put in perspective, the defense budget remains small. According to China's 2004 defense white paper, its defense expenditure in 2003 amounted to only 5.69 percent of the United States, 56.78 percent of Japan's and 37.07 percent of that of Britain.

As a percentage of gross domestic product, China's annual defense expenditure was 1.63 percent in 2003, compared with 3.6 percent in the United States and 0.99 percent in Japan.

While enhancing its defense capabilities, the government made efforts to assure the international community a "stronger China" does not pose any serious threat to other countries, Xin noted.

Leaders have repeatedly stressed the goal was to maintain world peace and security and not seek hegemony, while embracing multilateral cooperation, which is seen as a necessity for the promotion of development.

Jia Qingguo, professor and associate dean of the school of international studies at Peking University, noted the country has made "significant efforts" to improve security relations with its neighbors, concluding border agreements with Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam, while steeping up its border negotiations with India.

"It has even refrained from undertaking strong reactions to repeated provocation from the Japanese rightists and government to take unilateral actions to imposed control on the Diaoyu Island, a Chinese territory in China's view," Qingguo noted.

In recent years, the country has also become more active and cooperative in its engagement of members of the Association of Southeast Asian nations.

"In order to debunk the image of theory of the 'China threat,' China has to present an image of China as a responsible great power by embracing positive trends in the region," said Xin.

As such, it has agreed to start negotiation with ASEAN on a free-trade agreement, while joining the Southeast Asian Treat of Amity and Cooperation in 2004. Importantly, it made a strategic concession in 2002 to ASEAN in accepting a multilateral approach to the South China Sea dispute.

Meanwhile, China has also played a key role in the six-party talks on North Korean nuclear crisis since 2003, changing its stance from its traditional "non-interference" to become an "honest broker."

In the regional context, both the Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Straits have been regarded as potentially explosive flashpoints that concern the entire region.

"But from China's perspective, the fundamental difference between these two cases is that the Taiwan issue is a matter of sovereignty and territorial integrity for China, whereas the Korean issue is not," Xin said.

Xin noted that since President Hu Jintao took office, Beijing appears to have made considerable adjustments to its Taiwan policy.

"A new emphasis is placed on containing Taiwan independence through legal vehicles and by means of international forces," Xin said.

While previously Beijing would have treated the Taiwan issue as an "internal affair," in the last couple of years, it has intensified efforts to work with Washington to contain Taiwan's moves toward independence, reflecting a new emphasis on preventive diplomacy.

"In fact, Beijing has worked very hard to mobilize diplomatic forces to constrain the 'international space' for Taiwan independence," Xin said.

All rights reserved. � 2005 United Press International. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by United Press International. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of United Press International.

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