Illustration: Chen Xia/GT

Neighboring countries and regions are China's vital partners, but some of them have gradually become the pawns of certain outsiders with ulterior motives to create geopolitical conflicts in China's neighborhood.

On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi addressed an international symposium on China's neighborhood diplomacy in Beijing. Regarding Asia's common security, the foreign minister stressed the need for countries to "oppose interference by external forces in the internal affairs of regional countries" and "never allow the tragedy of geopolitical conflicts to be staged in our region."

The tragedy here means a proxy war waged by a major power like the US, which may bring disasters in China's neighborhood, Zhao Gancheng, a research fellow from the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, told the Global Times.

Zhou Fangyin, professor at the Guangdong Research Institute for International Strategies, believes that Wang's point is that we can't let hotspot issues turn into armed conflicts. But there are other forces, for example, the US, behind this situation, he said. 

These countries with ulterior motives seek to achieve their own purposes at the expense of the interests of China and its neighbors, which leads to the malicious escalation of some conflicts that should not have erupted.

Under the Indo-Pacific Strategy, the US has been sabotaging regional cooperation in Asia, while avoid engaging in a head-on conflict with China. It is looking for a proxy in China's neighborhood. Creating tensions around China has always been an US intension. In this regard, Wang Yi has put forward four suggestions, one of which is creating a Global Security Initiative pilot zone featuring an Asian pathway of security and flagrantly opposing the Cold War mentality.

China and the US represent two different visions on security, one is that security is interdependent, that is, if one country is insecure, it is hard for other countries to achieve real security. The other is the security within the alliance system that the US has been pursuing, which presupposes its own security while making other countries insecure.

China's neighboring countries know well that once the dispute evolves into a conflict, it is not in line with their interest, and most of China's neighboring countries are wise and prudent enough to recognize that they do not want to take a side in the China-US strategic competition or intensify the situation.

Wang Yi will travel to Washington later this week. While the visit may not resolve the disputes, it is part of a diplomatic effort by both sides toward opening channels of communication to minimize risks.

China's security concept represents a good aspiration. China emphasizes collective security, strives to build a community with a shared future, and seeks to integrate national security with global peace. China will always be a builder of world peace.