China's strategy for national security is its bedrock to achieve peace under evolving times and circumstances.

Its national security strategy weighs heavily on China's peaceful development. After a period of breakneck reform, the Chinese government has gradually formed a new security concept, one that will guide the nation's other strategies in dealing with globalization, the end of the Cold War and potential unrest in the nation.

But does the new strategy incorporate? There are four key aspects to the new aim. First, the priority of China's national security strategy is to safeguard world peace and maintain a stable and favorable environment for China's development. With fundamental changes in how major powers interact, especially after the Cold War and through today's sweep of globalization, China's basic view of the world has changed from "war and revolution" to "peace and development".

Second, China puts political and military securities at the top of its agenda. It emphasizes the importance of independent sovereignty and territorial integrity. Political and military security - with maritime rights becoming more and more important to China - is a condition of peace and development and is vital to China's national security strategy.

Third, the overall strategy attaches greater importance on economic security, to which are connected all of China's major pursuits. Economic security is becoming more important to China.

Last, the new security concept advocates international security. Since the mid-1990s, China has asked countries to curtail their stocks of weapons and attain security by mutual trust, equality and collaboration.

China has also stressed a comprehensive security plan that reached beyond the military and politics to the fields of economy, technology, society, culture, the environment and the spread of information.

But how do other major international powers play into this strategy? History has shown us that China and the European Union, for example, have a lot in common in terms of security aims.

First, China and the EU have a foundation of cooperation. The purpose and international status of the EU holds that its foreign strategy should be focused on world peace and sustainable development. This is similar to China's ideology and builds a foundation for China-EU cooperation. Their similar viewpoints underlie how China and the EU's deals in international relations.

Second, the core aim of China's new security strategy is to safeguard its sovereignty and its territories. Compared to the United States, Japan and other countries, the EU never constitutes a direct threat to China and is expected to play a positive role. The importance of the EU should never be underestimated.

How much the EU impacts China's national security can be reflected in two issues.

One is the Taiwan question. The EU's strategy is different from the US' and Japan's. We can expect EU to form a counterbalance on the Taiwan question.

The EU and its member countries stick to the "one-China" policy. It has admitted that the People's Republic of China is the only legitimate government and has not developed political relations with Taiwan authorities. The development of China-Europe relations can help ease tension across the Taiwan Straits. The EU is one of the major global players that we should win over.

Another issue is maritime rights, one of China's newly clarified core interests that points to a shift from territorial land sovereignty to maritime sovereignty.

EU has no direct conflict with China on the open seas and can be expected to play a constructive role in the next Asia-Europe summit.

The EU also has played a positive role in accelerating China's participation in globalization, including stabilizing disturbances and risks in the market, promoting the establishment of an international law of order and equality, and promoting China's competitiveness and national power. These are positive factors for China's economic security.

The EU has 27 member countries and if China enters one of the EU's markets, it will enter into the entire European market. China is enjoying the convenience of integration and a reduction in the costs of trading with the EU.

The euro also is pivotal to the stability of the international financial system. The euro provides an important choice for China to avoid risk and attain diversity in foreign exchange assets. During the financial crisis, EU made great efforts to push for reform of the international financial system.

As the largest developing country in the world, China has been rapidly developing. The EU, on the other hand, comprises developed countries that have strong purchasing powers and large markets. China and the EU are in different stages of development, a factor that has been a boon for each. This matters greatly for China's long-term security.

Fourth, the EU is crucial to how China employs its new security strategy. The aim of the strategy is to seek mutual security by mutual trust and mutual benefit. Thus attaining mutual security hinges on more diversity, which then furthers dialogue and cooperation. China-EU cooperation plays an irreplaceable role in China's strategic aims.

The common grounds mentioned establish three steps that both China and the EU must continue to take to develop their relationship. Doing so, could eventually lead to the establishment of a "comprehensive strategic partnership" between China and the EU.

Over time, China and the EU have established dialogue and cooperation in more than 50 fields: politics, economy and trade, technology, law, society, culture, environment, and information, to name a few. This cooperation has an effect on national welfare and people's livelihood.

Given the importance of China-EU ties, cooperation has a direct effect on China's internal stability and development, as well as on world peace, prosperity and sustainable development.

We can see the EU playing an important role in the implementation of China's national security strategy. But we cannot deny that there are contradictions and disagreements between China and the EU, given that the two countries have different social systems, ideologies and interests, not to mention that both are at different stages of economic development. Thus we should be rational toward the differences and seek to expand commonalities and narrow differences. This matters a lot, especially when compared with Sino-US relations and China-Japan relations. There is no doubt that the status and irreplaceable role of the EU is extremely important to China.

The author is a scholar with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.