Country seeks shared future with neighbors

BEIJING: As the tariff war launched by the United States is surging across the world and having an impact on the fragile global economy, China’s commitment to promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind has become more relevant in saving the world from a chaotic lose-lose scenario.

At the central conference on work related to neighboring countries, which was held in Beijing on Tuesday and Wednesday, President Xi Jinping reiterated the importance of building a community with a shared future with neighboring countries.

A statement released after the meeting highlighted the neighboring countries as an important foundation for China to achieve development and prosperity, a key front to maintain national security and a priority area in the country’s overall diplomacy.

The meeting, which was attended by all the members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, China’s top leadership, came as geopolitical competition between major countries has a greater bearing on the regional situation.

It was noted at the meeting that China’s relations with its neighbors are in their best period in modern times. Meanwhile, they are entering a stage of deep interconnection between the regional situation and the evolution of the global landscape.

Efforts should be made to coordinate both the domestic and international situations, synergize development and security, and hold high the banner of building a community with a shared future for mankind to work with neighboring countries to create a better future together, according to the statement.

It was highlighted at the meeting that in building a community with a shared future with neighboring countries, it is important to consolidate strategic mutual trust, support regional countries in pursuing their own development paths, and properly manage conflicts and differences.

It is essential to strengthen alignment of development strategies, promote high-level mutual connectivity, and intensify industrial and supply chain cooperation, the statement said.

The meeting’s participants underlined the need to uphold regional stability and jointly address various risks and challenges by engaging in security and law enforcement cooperation. They also called for expanding people-to-people exchanges and facilitating mutual visits.

China is committed to developing friendship and partnership with its neighbors and fostering an amicable, secure and prosperous neighborhood in line with the principle of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness, a philosophy put forward by Xi in 2013 in promoting the country’s neighborhood diplomacy.

At the Central Conference on Work Relating to Foreign Affairs, which was held in November 2014, Xi reiterated the need to build a neighborhood community with a shared future based on amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness. To this end, China will foster friendship and partnership with neighboring countries, build an amicable, peaceful and prosperous neighborhood, and enhance mutually beneficial cooperation and interconnectivity, he said.

Over the past decade, China has established diverse and substantive partnerships, cooperative relations and strategic relations of mutual benefit with 28 neighboring countries and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, according to the Foreign Ministry. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item