The "Blue Book on International Situation and China's Diplomacy for 2022/2023," an annual heavyweight publication by the China Institute of International Studies, has been released in Beijing.

The book forecasts 2023 to be another year where global peace and development are to be seriously challenged.

It says the U.S. will focus on big power competition and seek to maintain its hegemonic status, posing new challenges to major power relations, while the Ukraine crisis will continue to be the most prominent international situation in 2023.

Experts at a panel discussion that came after the book release also suggested China's diplomacy has been changing with new realities.

China, EU share more common ground than differences

Yu Jiang, vice president of the China Institute of International Studies, said relations between China and the European Union (EU) have "deep-rooted problems."

"For example, the two sides put on hold a major investment deal last year. But fundamentally, the two have more common interests," he said, adding that the common interests outweigh the differences and the two have untold potential if they work together.

Yu also said visits by top leaders from European countries and the EU reflect their hopes for better ties and cooperation with China. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez arrived in Beijing on Thursday for a state visit to China, and French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are also expected to visit China soon. 

U.S. aims to contain and isolate China

Vice President of China Foreign Affairs University Sun Jisheng said 2023 will continue to witness "U.S. hegemony going down hill" while "China becomes an ever more important stabilizing and shaping force." 

Shen Yamei, director of the U.S. Studies Department with China Institute of International Studies, told CGTN that the hawkish U.S. approach to China would be more intense in 2023 and that the U.S., especially Congress, is acting in a more systematic way as it seeks to contain and isolate China. 

Based on the growing number of the bills related to China in Congress, the U.S. is focusing on two specific areas in competing with China, she said. 

She pointed out that one is in the field of technology, where the U.S. continues to restrict high-tech exports to China and impose a series of sanctions, citing the recent U.S. accusations that TikTok is a threat to U.S. data privacy and security.

"The other is competition in terms of systems. Whether it's the origins of the COVID-19 or the airship incident, or other new acts recently, it's distorting China's development and its systems' influence," Shen said, citing the recent "COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023" that U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law as well as the U.S. revoking China's "developing country status."