Beijing, Nov 4 (IANS): China should "consider allying to gain initiatives", said a state-run Chinese daily Sunday, days ahead of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

An article in the People's Daily said that "Non-Aligned Movement" was born out of the period of the Cold War and US-Soviet striving for hegemony.

"China has always been the observer and supporter of the `Non-Aligned Movement' all the way," it said.

Though Cold War was over, "the United States and some NATO countries did not abandon the Cold War mentality".

The article said that the US has been pursuing the "policy of expanding eastward and westward, pushing the border of NATO to the `doorway' of Russia, and enlarging the influence of US-Japan Security Treaty to contain China".

"Under the circumstances, Chinese experts and scholars think that China is `being beset' and should consider allying to gain initiatives," said the daily.

"The United States is unpopular for its pursuit of alliance, and if China also engages in the alliance to contend with the United States, Japan or NATO, a global destructive `new Cold War' will take shape," it added.

The article elaborated that "non-alignment does not mean not deepening cooperation or that China has the same breadth and depth to cooperate with all countries".

"Taking the relations between China and the United States as an example, China does not approve of the `Group of Two' (G2) and advocates the establishment of a new type of relations between great powers and mutual respect for each other's core interests and major concerns. However, the United States has been hedging its bets on China," it said.

It went on to say that over the past 10 years, the strategic partnership between China and Russia has actually become the model of the new type of relations between great powers after the Cold War, and both sides oppose alignment and unnecessary confrontation.