Xiplomacy fosters more solid ties, promising common prosperity

Beijjng: In a world that is undergoing changes unseen in a century, China will remain confident and resolutein safeguarding its sovereignty and security, and maintain its sincerity and goodwill for safeguarding world peace and promoting common prosperity, Chinese President Xi Jinping has said in his 2019 New Year speech.

The declaration Xi made on the last day of 2018 is a footnote to his commitment to building a better world for all with his insightful and pragmatic diplomatic endeavors, widely known as Xiplomacy.

Since the start of the year, Xi has made five overseas visits and attended four multilateral gatherings in eight

countries to forge broader consensuses and closer partnerships for jointly building a community with a shared future for mankind.

On June 29, on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) summit in the Japanese city of Osaka, Xi’s meeting with his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, spurred optimism and lifted global markets.

In their face-to-face meeting, the two leaders agreed to jointly advance a China-U.S. relationship featuring

coordination, cooperation and stability, and to restart economic and trade consultations, with the U.S. side

agreeing at the meeting not to impose new tariffs on Chinese imports.

China and the United States have highly integrated interests and extensive cooperation areas, and they should not fall into the so-called traps of conflict and confrontation, Xi said.

“They signaled the will to cooperate. This is very important and constructive ….The situation is indeed improved,” said Jeffrey Sachs, a senior UN advisor and renowned economics professor at Columbia

University, on the significance of the meeting.
Xi’s state visit to Russia in early June came as the two countries are embracing the 70th anniversary of the

establishment of diplomatic ties.

The Chinese leader, together with Russian President Vladimir Putin, upgraded bilateral relations to a

comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for the new era.

Xi noted that the China-Russia ties have become a major-country relationship featuring the highest degree of mutual trust, the highest level of coordination and the highest strategic value, thus making a key contributions to world peace, stability and development.

Two weeks later, the Chinese president arrived in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) for a

state visit, the first of its kind in 14 years.

In his talks with the DPRK’s top leader Kim Jong Un, Xi noted that the China-DPRK relationship has entered

a new historical era. He also reaffirmed China’s support for efforts to advance the political settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue and build up conditions for it.

While protectionism and fierce global competition for resources have diverted some economies’ attention

from making a bigger cake to wrestling for a larger slice, Xiplomacy staunchly advocates common efforts to create more shared interests.

“We should forge a global connectivity partnership to achieve common development and prosperity,” Xi said

at the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. “As long as we work together to help each

other, even if thousands of miles apart, we will certainly be able to find a mutually beneficial and win-win road.”

His remarks resonated with many attendees at the event, which was held in Beijing in April and gathered

participants from more than 150 countries and 90 international organizations.
Xi proposed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013 and frequently promoted it on multiple international

occasions. The endeavors have borne fruitful results — some 126 countries and 29 international organizations

have signed BRI cooperation documents with China.

From 2013 to 2018, trade between China and other BRI countries surpassed 6 trillion U.S. dollars, and China’s

investment in BRI countries exceeded 90 billion dollars.
“The BRI has transcended the challenges of geography and unequal development,” and China “has proven

itself as a reliable, responsible partner in the international arena,” said Nursultan Nazarbayev, first president of Kazakhstan.

The blueprint also ignited Italy’s enthusiasm, as it clinched a deal with China to jointly advance the

construction of the Belt and Road during Xi’s state visit to the nation in March.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella said that with the continuous deepening of the comprehensive strategic

partnership between the two countries and the implementation of the deal, the Italy-China relationship is becoming increasingly active, close and inclusive.

Italy is the first Group of Seven country that has signed such an agreement with China, while France and

Germany also showed interest in boosting BRI-related cooperation through third-party markets to improve

infrastructure in Africa.

The fact that more and more potential partners have shown interest in the joint construction of the Belt and

Road corroborates Xi’s words that “the BRI will not become an exclusive club.”

Making multilateral efforts to address pressing global issues is another core message of Xiplomacy, as

effective global governance is threatened by rising unilateralism and trade protectionism.

At the G20 Osaka summit, Xi noted the world economy is at a crossroads, and the G20 bears the responsibility

to chart the course for the world economy and global governance at the crucial time.

To tackle global challenges, he put forward a four-point proposal: sticking to reform and innovation and

exploring driving force for growth; keeping pace with the times and improving global governance; actively

tackling challenges and removing development bottlenecks; upholding the spirit of partnership and properly addressing differences.

Xi’s “much anticipated speech … provides a direction for improving global trading system” to avoid “being

myopic and guided by short-term interests,” said Swaran Singh, a professor at the School of International

Studies at the New Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Xi also appealed for multilateralism on occasions such as the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum,

the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence

Building Measures in Asia.
In March, at the global governance forum co-hosted by China and France in Paris, Xi noted “four deficits” in

global affairs, namely governance deficit, trust deficit, peace deficit and development deficit, and proposed a

four-pronged approach to addressing these deficits.

Dialogue facilitates understanding among countries, as was demonstrated in the Conference on Dialogue of

Asian Civilizations (CDAC) held in Beijing in May.

The CDAC aimed to create a new platform for advancing equal dialogue, mutual learning, and mutual

inspiring among civilizations in Asia and the rest of the world, Xi said.
The intensifying global challenges humanity is facing now require concerted efforts by countries across the world, he said.