Chinese President Xi Jinpinghas advised Hou Yifan, a Women's World Chess champion studying at the prestigious Peking University (PKU), to "give a lecture to the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," so that diplomats can gain a deeper understanding of the chess game theory.

Xi made the request while talking to PKU students on May 4, China's annual Youth Day. The president also reportedly asked the chess prodigy a "very professional question" and commented the answer as saying "a chess match is like life, which consists of continuous contention."

[By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn]

The president's actual question to the chess champion remains unknown to the public, but that reflects his pondering over bigger issues, which would incorporate game theory in the creation of foreign policies. Similarly, to "give a lecture to the diplomats" should not be taken as a mere joke, but as an expectation from China's top authorities for strengthening the country's diplomacy in a bid to better cope with the drastically changing international situation.

Game theory, often used in contentions, applies to the process of strategic decision-making. It is a theory to guide interactive decision makers to make the right choices, based on an understanding of one's own capacity and the information one has obtained. Game theory has developed into an extensive subject that includes various disciplines in the West.

In his book "The Future of Power," American political scientist Joseph Nye said world power "is distributed in a pattern that resembles a three-dimensional chess game."

On the upper board, the military power remains a uni-polarity where the United States maintains its military dominance. On the middle board, economic power takes a multi-polar view, with the United States, Europe, China and Japan being the major contenders and other countries building up their capacities. On the lower board, which consists of non-governmental behaviors in international relations, power is even more scattered.

Nye deems two grand power transfers are taking place, which see power shifting from one country to another and from governmental behavior to non-governmental action.

Nye's book in nature aims to provide consultation to U.S. strategic policymakers by telling them to rethink power from the perspective of achieving goals, instead of "surpassing other countries." It has been the best book to elaborate issues on international politics by using the metaphor of chess play.

Game theory, after all, serves the creation and implementation of grand strategies. Nye has concluded that a country's grand strategies are its leadership's conception on how to ensure national safety, welfare and recognition from other countries; and grand strategies should keep up with the changing situations to ensure "a balance between the means and the purpose."