China's peaceful diplomacy

THE MESSAGE PRESIDENT XI JINPING CONVEYED in a speech on Saturday to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence could not be clearer: No country cherishes world peace so urgently and honestly as China does.

China proposed the five principles - mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence - as the basis for international relations in 1954.

True, international relations have been characterized by power politics, hegemony, unilateralism and the use of force in the settlement of disputes or conflicts. That explains why some politicians and countries continue to make a noise about the so-called China Threat now that China has risen to be the world's second-largest economy.