Tao of China's diplomacy

West should accept the world has changed and relinquish its obsolete mentality of 'you are like us or against us'

Thirteen years ago the influential Pentagon strategist Andrew Marshall endorsed the Asia 2025 report, in which the idea of Sino-American synergy was not even considered. "A stable and powerful China will be constantly challenging the status quo in East Asia, an unstable and relatively weak China could be dangerous because its leaders might try to bolster their power with foreign military adventurism," it said.

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on Sept 11, 2001, the United States modified the orientation of its foreign policy for a decade, but six months after the last US troops withdrew from Iraq, and as its troops prepare to withdraw from the Afghan quagmire, Marshall's assessment on China resurfaced and has provided the fundamental rationale for US President Barack Obama's grand "pivot to Asia".