China may not have allies, but it has many friends

Ironically, last October, three years after the death of Gaddafi, some Western media outlets such as The Washington Post and The Guardian questioned whether Libya, now torn apart by civil war, would have been better if Gaddafi had still been in power.

Now, US President Barack Obama is trying to persuade Washington's European allies to send arms and equipment to forces loyal to the Ukrainian government to fortify fences against rebels, which instead of helping resolve the Ukraine crisis could deepen and complicate it further.

Under Obama's "pivot to Asia" strategy, the US has also been using its alliance with other countries to curb the rise of China, because many hawkish Americans fear Beijing could challenge the dominant position of Washington in the world. But Chinese officials have described the US allies in the Asia-Pacific region a key component of the "pivot to Asia" strategy and a product of the Cold War.

This has prompted some Chinese scholars to suggest that China change its foreign policy and establish strategic alliances with other countries to prevent the US from succeeding in its designs. And in fact, some people in the US have become paranoid fearing the establishment of a China-Russian alliance given the new geopolitics in the world today.

But rather than following the US' example of making allies and building military bases overseas, China should continue its current policy of giving the final shape to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, New Development Bank, Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road to permanently cut off the road back to the Cold War. That indeed is the best way of making and keeping China the best friend of the world.

The author, based in Washington, is deputy editor of China Daily USA. chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com