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YI: However, economic power leads to political power. And I think that the concern in Southeast Asia is the presence of a very strong China in the South China Sea, where a lot of the problems are located. Do I understand that there has been an effort to deal with this problem by having cooperative, cooperation like the non-traditional security cooperation? So, will this help alleviate tension in the area?

Gui Yong-Tao: Yes, exactly and on the South China Sea issue, you must know that some sort of a code, has already been agreed.

YI: A code of conduct?

Gui Yong-Tao: Yes, between China and the Southeast Asian countries, that was very encouraging actually. We can see that about China's territorial issues China has been very much active and pragmatic. China has resolved most of its territorial disputes with such countries as Russia, India, with which China actually has fought military conflicts with them. But recently, very encouraging developments and I firmly believe that in China's relations with Southeast Asia, the priority is to maintain peace, in this region. That's the first thing, and secondly, as I mentioned, through the cooperation in the non-traditional security aspects, I think some sort of confidence building measures can be developed in this process which would be very much helpful, because actually when you have the goal of building peace, you have to have some many people from different areas, really doing the job. And through this non-traditional cooperation, bureaucrats, diplomats and even the military, may know each other, may understand each other, and then there may be less misconception, misunderstanding or misjudgment. I think that would be helpful.

YI: A people-to-people approach, rather than Government-to-Government?

Gui Yong-Tao: Yes. Of course people to people approach is not the only one but at least it's complementary. It would facilitate the government to government interactions.

YI: What about China's foreign policy itself? Where is it heading? What are the priorities of its relations with other countries?

Gui Yong-Tao: I think that China's foreign policy, foreign strategy has been made very clear recently. China is a country which emphasizes strategy or long-term policy in dealing with foreign affairs. And the theme is of course this so-called peaceful development. Previously we had peaceful vice and finally a consensus has been reached in China that the fundamentals of China's foreign policy should be peaceful development. This means that China will emphasize the economic aspects in its foreign relations, which is inconsistent with China's domestic agenda. When looking at China's foreign policy, we should always keep in mind that the top priority is domestic economic development, rather than China's power or influence in the international arena. So that's the key point. I think China still adheres to its three decades policy of economic reform and opening up policy, so it is very much understandable that China will pursue a peaceful policy, a development policy in terms of developing foreign relations. So that will not change in the future. China sees the world situation as a strategic opportunity for China. This is a very significant assessment, because in the past China may see that wars and revolutions were the seeds of the world. But since the open reform policy started, China has changed its perception of the world. Now China sees the world in the theme of peace and development. This is China's assessment, not necessarily agreed by people from other countries. But anyway, it is important, because that is the basis for China's government, for China's journalists, for China's academics to make their decisions, on how to look at the world. I think this is very clear, and in this kind of foreign policy principle, China can reassure other countries about its future direction.

YI: Let me ask you two weak areas in which the international world perceives China: one is Tibet and the other is Taiwan. Not all countries understand China's position on this. How do you deal with critics who charge how China is dealing with the problems of Tibet and Taiwan?

Gui Yong-Tao: I think it is understandable that China and other countries, actually advanced countries like Europe and North America, have very much different opinions on such issues as Taiwan and Tibet. I think this might be related to the different situations within these (respective countries) because for the US and European countries, for example, for them sovereignty or territorial integrity is no longer a national priority, is no longer on the political agenda of these nations. So the major priority for their leaders is about human rights, is about religious freedom, is about ethnic minorities. That's understandable. For China, on such issues as Tibet and Taiwan, of course, it's still on China's top political agenda because they are still related to China's core interests to which we define, because it's about China's territorial integrity. It's about sovereignty. And it's also based on China's moral perspective on the world order. These issues from China's perspective, these issues originated from immoral, say, colonial history. But China still has the task of protecting its territory from any international influence, international forces. This is the perspective of the Chinese people. It might be difficult to be understood by people in the US or European countries. And one more thing, it is much easier to talk about that in Europe than to face the problem and find ways to cope with this problem, like with Tibet, it is an issue of territory, an issue of religion, of ethnic minority. So all the most difficult problems, which many countries face, China is now facing in Tibet. I will not say that the Chinese government policies on these issues are 100 percent correct. We may make mistakes. But this is understandable. What we really want other countries to understand is that it is sometimes a difficult dilemma like the Chinese government is facing. That 's my personal assessment. Really, it's very difficult.

YI: Coming from an Asian country, I call it the process of growing up, of reaching maturity, because I think all Asian countries, as you said, having been under the colonial yoke, can understand that. But others would say it is not justifiable. On a personal note Dr. Gui, how would you like your students, future leaders of China, understand China's foreign relations, international relations?

Gui Yong-Tao: As a teacher, I have high expectations, high hopes from my students, the future generation. One point I would like to raise, which is related to your first question is the recent patriotic sentiments among the younger Chinese generation. I would say, the current young generation in China grew up in a patriotic atmosphere in terms of education, in terms of media reports because until very recently, China was still facing difficult relationships with the major powers of the world. Chinese people felt uncertainties, insecurity when facing the outside world. So, it is understandable and justifiable that China's younger generation has strong patriotic or nationalistic sentiments. But on the other hand, we have to acknowledge this kind of feelings have their negative side. It may create a negative image in the international community, it may also affect China's domestic agenda if people are emotionally or ideologically obsessed with this kind of patriotism or nationalism. We may lose our ultimate goal of achieving economic development, of peaceful development. So, I believe what the students should be developing is a kind of a global identity. And personally, I am optimistic about the young generation, because there are so many international occasions where they can interact, whether in China or outside of China, with people around the world. Through these kinds of interaction, exchanges, they can get a better understanding of what is happening around the world about the common differences between China and other countries, not only on pop culture. At this level, I would say already we have a kind of transnational identity because the young generation everywhere seem to be reading the same pop culture, pop culture products. But even at the elite level, there have been so many occasions - conferences and meetings -- where journalists, academics and senior government officials are meeting frequently or even regularly. And through negotiations, interactions or dialogues, a kind of global identity is being developed because there are many issues, questions, problems that many countries share. These are not national questions but global questions. So through this process, I think that in the future, China will develop and should develop a global identity. And of course, this is our ideal. And personally, I am optimistic about this.

YI: On that note Dr. Gui, thank you for sharing your time and your thoughts with us.

Gui Yong-Tao: Thank you. It was a pleasure.