China has established about 70 "strategy partnerships" or "cooperation partnerships", including those with many American allies, such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy. These partnerships are mostly economic in nature, not traditional, full-fledged military alliances, whereas the US has about 60 full-fledged treaty alliances that involve military cooperation, according to Yan.

Yan says China needs more military allies to maintain a political balance in East Asia in terms of strategic competition with the US. A set of strong alliances would help China counter-balance the US' reach and make the world a more peaceful place.

While Yan proposes China first form alliances with countries in its neighbors, such as Cambodia, Laos and member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and then look toward some US allies and partners in the region, he has not specifically named Russia, a country with huge natural resources and powerful military.

A possible China-Russia alliance has been a hot topic of discussion in Washington, especially after the deterioration in US-Russia relations and the threat to China posed by the US' "pivot to Asia" strategy.

Earlier this year, Joseph Nye, of Harvard University, argued that a China-Russia alliance is less likely given some of their differences, but he did not mention that the US has far more differences with some of its security allies and partners.

Many in the US have long questioned whether the US should go to war for its numerous treaty allies. The response from US and NATO officials after the downing of a Russian war plane by Turkey on Nov 24 was telling: It's absurd for treaty partners to defend their allies even when they are wrong.

China has wisely decided not to resort to forming alliances to engage in a largely Cold War-type zero-sum game, but if the US keeps playing its card of building alliances against China, what Yan advocates could get more attention and support in China.

The author is deputy editor of China Daily USA. [email protected]