Belt and Road Initiative energize China's neighborhood diplomacy

BEIJING - The Belt and Road Initiative China has proposed to revive the ancient trade routes that span Asia, Africa and Europe have invigorated China's neighborhood diplomacy, a key pillar of its diplomatic layout.

The reason is the initiative of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, unveiled by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, are open and inclusive. They will not be a solo for China but a real chorus involving all countries along the routes, as Xi put it.

To build community dream together with Southeast Asia

Over the past years, China and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which have served as an important pivot of the Maritime Silk Road since ancient times, have mutually benefited from their free trade agreements on goods, services and investment, and are now jointly aiming for something bigger.

Their trade volume surpassed $480.4 billion in 2014, up 8.3 percent from the previous year, growing much faster than the average growth rate of 3.4 percent in China's foreign trade volume.

China has set up technology transfer centers with Indonesia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Thailand since 2013, while cooperation arrangements with Malaysia and Vietnam are also proceeding smoothly.

A total of 1,228 companies, research institutions and industry associations in such fields as agriculture and renewable energy have joined the transfer centers.

Infrastructure construction and connectivity enhancement within ASEAN are essential for the bloc's goal to build an economic community and create a competitive market of over 600 million people with free flow of goods, services, investment capital and skilled labor.

As China's Belt and Road Initiative meet the demands of ASEAN countries and have huge potential in fueling the bloc's development, they have noticeably propelled the healthy development of China's relations with its southeastern neighbors, steering them away from frictions over minor disagreements.

Chinese leaders have worked hard to align the Belt and Road Initiative with the development plans of the neighboring countries and paid successive visits to Southeast Asia.

In June last year, Xi invited his Myanmar counterpart U Thein Sein to join the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiative. This month alone has witnessed several high-level interactions between China and Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.

A Lao official said his country's national strategy has been upgraded to change its geographical disadvantages into advantages thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative and the planned China-Laos railway, which will help turn the land-locked country into a "land-linked country".

Granting India full membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) at the 15th SCO summit held in Russia's Ufa earlier this month has strengthened China-India ties and pragmatic cooperation.

Meanwhile, the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has won over most of China's neighbors as founding members.

China and Southeast Asia are also jointly advancing people-to-people exchanges and the formation of an exchange and cooperation network composed of think tanks, NGOs, media, industrial and commercial circles.

To connect strategies for common development with Eurasia

China borders Russia and Mongolia to the north and Central Asian countries to the northwest. These countries enjoy a friendly and mutually beneficial relationship with China and have an enormous stake in China's security, energy demand and economy.

Since taking office in 2013, Xi has visited Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Mongolia and other countries in the Eurasian region to show China's priorities in neighborhood diplomacy featuring amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness.