Surrounded by other major powers such as India, Russia and Japan, it is China's geopolitical interest to establish a sound long-term relationship with its Southeast Asian neighbours, a Chinese academic said in Kuala Lumpur today..

"Geopolitically, China is surrounded by major powers such as Japan, Russia and India as neighbours. Traditionally, only those in southeastern areas like Asean nations pose no threat to China," Prof Lu Jianren of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said.

Thus, it would be to China's interest to maintain a good relationship with these countries, he added in his presentation at "The prospects and challenges of China-Asean relations" forum held at Malaysia's Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations this morning.

The academic revealed that China has two important foreign relations strategies one, in dealing with the 'great powers' such as the United States, Japan and Russia and another on its relations with surrounding neighbours such as the Southeast Asian countries, represented by Asean.