The most basic reason is that the development of technology and production capability has led to an excessively high price in war and confrontation between major powers. In the new century, any country s national strategy that is characterized by the basic goal of pursuing and realizing its national interest will remain intact. However, the way to realize national interest will have a fundamental difference. It is too costly for great powers to use war and confrontation to realize their national interests, because the simple fact and the logic that lost will be bigger than the gain. We can only image the price of no trade and no economic, technological, information or personal exchanges between major countries in an interdependent, globalized and interconnected world.
Alliance is a kind of relative relationship which always targets a third party.
Today and in the future, countries can be friendly and cooperative without being in an alliance. Closer cooperation does not need to be a relative matter. Looking to the past, present, and the future, the Sino-US relations in the 21st century need new thinking and a new model. Partnership may not be easy to build or even to imagine, but a more cooperative relationship is certainly desirable and achievable - if both countries want to go toward that direction. The spy plane incident is almost over but the uncertainties of the Sino-U.S. relations remain.