Diplomatic events reap broad benefits

China's boom in exchanges helps to promote global recovery, peace

For Pakistani journalist Saud Faisal Malik, China's remarkable surge in international exchanges, including a rich variety of diplomatic events, has offered him key opportunities to observe from close up Beijing's foreign policy priorities and domestic agenda.

During his five-month stay in China this year, Malik traveled to 12 cities for news-gathering trips and covered several of the nation's landmark diplomatic events, including the first China-Central Asia Summit in May and the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in October.

Malik, who is deputy editor-in-chief of Pakistan Observer magazine, said it was highly rewarding for him to be part of a process that saw China welcome a historic increase in visits by global leaders, business executives, scholars and reporters in the first year of its post-pandemic era.

"The nation's booming exchanges served the need of both the country and the rest of the world for economic revitalization and promoting peace and harmony," he said.

Over the past year, China has ratcheted up efforts to forge partnerships for win-win cooperation, seek multilateral solutions to global challenges and build an open world economy, as part of a commitment to building a global community with a shared future, said analysts and observers.

The most important multilateral event hosted by China this year was the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, an event in Beijing that brought together two dozen global leaders and representatives from over 100 countries and 30 international organizations.

In a landmark address delivered at the forum, President Xi Jinping announced Beijing's eight major steps to boost the high-quality development of the Belt and Road going forward, outlining a new vision for the future of the flagship initiative.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi said after the event that the global forum delivered a strong appeal for solidarity, cooperation, opening-up and win-win outcomes, instead of division, confrontation, closed doors and zero-sum games.

"Amid the complex changes of the century, the BRI always brings stability and positive energy to the world," he added.

Key outcomes of the forum include Beijing's pledge to set up new renminbi financing windows, carry out 1,000 aid programs for public well-being, and provide training sessions on green development for partner countries by 2030.

A forum secretariat has also been established to promote institutional development and project implementation. The secretariat said in a statement this month that more than half of the outcomes of the BRI forum have already been implemented.

The China-Central Asia Summit, held in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, marked another highlight of China's diplomatic events in 2023.

The five Central Asian countries underscored their support for building a China-Central Asia community with a shared future, and the summit adopted more than 100 agreements in various sectors that paved the way for future cooperation.

During the summit, Beijing emphasized its commitment to expanding trade and economic cooperation, establishing energy partnerships and increasing the number of direct flights between China and the region.

Malik, the Pakistani journalist, said the China-Central Asia Summit has its own importance in the region, since China has emerged as a main player in the region for connectivity under the BRI.

President Xi also hosted global leaders at the FISU World University Games in Chengdu, Sichuan province, and the Hangzhou Asian Games, two sporting events that were staged in a streamlined, safe and splendid manner.

The global gatherings over the past year have offered a key window for Xi's vision for building a global community with a shared future, analysts said.

Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University of China, said the head-of-state diplomacy from Xi charted the course for Beijing's foreign policy initiatives through the multilateral events.

"China has played a pioneering role in global cooperation in terms of its visions, strategic planning, institutional innovation and pragmatic actions," he said.

Kostas Gouliamos, former rector of European University Cyprus and an ordinary member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, said the tangible outcomes of China's events and summits uphold the Chinese wisdom for multilateralism and, accordingly, maintain the spirit of inclusive growth, openness and high-quality cooperation.

Such outcomes carry global significance as they become effective instruments for universal security, stability, everlasting friendship and peace, he said.

The stronger synergy between China and its global partners "is a splendid chapter in charting both a connected, peaceful world and a path for a global community of shared future", he said.

With the increased internationalization of Beijing's efforts, the government's foreign policy has thus emerged as being characterized by more significant developmental practices and vital to multilateralism as well as high-tech and economic policies, he added.

Marsela Musabelliu, executive director of the Albanian Institute for Globalization Studies, said Beijing has actively sought multilateral solutions to global challenges, recognizing that complex issues often require collaborative efforts from the international community.

"In the face of a turbulent global landscape, China's political leadership has considered domestic and international imperatives, working with a strategic vision and introducing a series of policies favorable to regional, continental and global geopolitical stability," she said.

Wang Huiyao, president of the Beijing-based Center for China and Globalization, said China has put greater emphasis in 2023 on building global platforms for economic cooperation. "While Western countries ramped up efforts to form geopolitical circles, China has intensified its drive to develop platforms committed to promoting economic growth and win-win cooperation," he said.

Besides existing mechanisms such as the China International Import Expo, China also held its first International Supply Chain Expo in November. The expo in Beijing drew 15,000 participants, with businesses signing more than 200 cooperation agreements and memorandums of understanding that involved total funding of over 150 billion yuan ($21 billion).

The supply chain expo marked an innovative drive to strengthen the security of global industrial and supply chains, said Wang Yiwei, from Renmin University.

China, instead of seeking decoupling or the severing of supply chains, has sought to strengthen them for the benefit of the global community and to lead globalization to a deeper level, he said.