An article jointly authored by Dr Zha Daojiong, Professor of International Political Economy at the School of International Studies, Peking University and Dr Dong Ting, Post-Doctoral Fellow at the School of International Studies, Peking University, was published on January 3, 2019 by the South China Morning Post to mark the 15th anniversary of the Asean-China strategic partnership. The authors said "It works against Beijing’s interests if Asean centrality is promoted as a means for either hedging against alleged Chinese expansionism through intragroup solidarity or inviting external forces to counter China. On the one hand, such reasoning is innate in geo-strategic thinking about the choice that any group of geographically small states should have for dealing with a large neighbour. On the other hand, practices of centrality so justified can invite nervous reactions from China, thus creating a vicious cycle of distrust". It urged both sides "to continually reassure each other about their benign geostrategic calculations over traditional security issues."