Author: Zhu Weilie.

Chinese diplomacy has become one of the concerns to the IR theorists and diplomatic circle in that the international system is being transformed and reconstructed in this day and age. Harmony, a concept initiated by Chinese leadership in recent years, is a piece of public goods with which China provides the international community, extraordinarily significant in its own right. China has set up the goal of pushing for building up a harmonious world and harmonious regions and hoisters the banner of peace, development and cooperation, albeit repeatedly stresses the diplomatic strategy of “keeping a low profile and taking a proactive role when feasible”. Little has been publicized about the relevant research of this strategy lest the international community misinterpret or misunderstand the strategy, though it actually aggravates China’s peripheries’ and Western powers’ suspicion about China’s strategic intention, obstructing the building-up of strategic mutual confidence. Therefore, it is in fact a solemn and unavoidable task to reexamine the concept of “keeping a low profile and taking a proactive role when feasible”.