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 But he also pledged to peacefully resolve China's disputes over
territory, which have intensified in recent years, especially in the
South and East China Seas.
"To beef up military alliances targeted at a third party is not
conducive to maintaining common security in the region," Xi said in
a speech, following a period when some Asian countries have sought
to reaffirm their security ties with Washington.
During a visit to Asia last month, U.S. President Barack Obama also
sought to reassure allies such as Japan and the Philippines that his
long-promised strategic shift towards Asia and the Pacific, widely
seen as aimed at countering China's rising influence, was real.
Xi made his remarks at a regional conference in Shanghai in front of
Vietnamese Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan, as well as
representatives from the Philippines, Japan and more than 40 other
countries and organizations.
He did not mention the United States.
China is embroiled in bitter disputes with Vietnam and the
Philippines over maritime boundaries in the South China Sea. Beijing
and Tokyo are also at loggerheads over disputed islands in the East
China Sea.
Anti-Chinese violence flared in Vietnam last week after Chinese
state oil company CNOOC deployed an oil rig 240 km (150 miles) off
the coast of Vietnam in waters also claimed by Hanoi. The rig was
towed there just days after Obama left the region.
The move was the latest in a series of confrontations between China
and some of its neighbors over the potentially oil-and-gas rich
South China Sea. Washington has responded with sharpened rhetoric
toward Beijing, describing a pattern of "provocative" actions by
China.
Xi sought to play down concerns about China's intentions.
"China stays committed to seeking peaceful settlement of disputes
with other countries over territorial sovereignty and maritime
rights and interests," he said.
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His speech was given at a meeting of the little-known Conference on
Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, or CICA.
China has seized upon its hosting of the forum, launched by
Kazakhstan in the early 1990s, to try to build clout in the region
and beyond. Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Hassan
Rouhani of Iran both attended.
State broadcaster China Central Television aired live the arrival of
various leaders for the meeting, but underscoring the sensitivity of
China's territorial disputes it cut away from images of Xi shaking
hands with the representatives from Vietnam, the Philippines and
Japan.
Xi said a zero-sum, "Cold War" concept of security where one country
gains at the expense of others would not work.
"We cannot just have the security of one or some countries while
leaving the rest insecure," Xi said, adding that one should not
"seek the so-called absolute security of itself at the expense of
the security of others".
"No country should attempt to dominate regional security affairs,"
he said.
Metallurgical Corp of China Ltd (MCC) said on Wednesday that four of
its employees working on a construction project in Vietnam were
killed and 126 injured during the anti-China protests last week.
The Chinese and Vietnamese governments had put the death toll at two
with 100 or more injured.
(Editing by Dean Yates)
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