China's win-win diplomacy to bring more benefits to neighbors

With promising proposals and concrete commitments, China is injecting fresh vigor into the regionally significant cause of building a more closely connected community of common interests with its neighbors. In a recent conference in Beijing, President Xi Jinping vowed to enlarge China's shared interests with surrounding countries so as to enable China and its neighbors to seize more opportunities from each other's development and achieve common prosperity. China has been expanding economic cooperation with its neighbors. It has proposed to set up a Silk Road Economic Belt through Central Asia, a Southern Silk Road linking China, Bangladesh, India and Myanmar, an infrastructure investment bank to finance construction projects in Asia, and to upgrade a free trade agreement with Southeast Asian countries. China's new leadership has made a wise choice to boost trade with neighboring countries, said Guo Shengxiang, a renowned Australian economist. In fact, China has already become the largest trading partner of many surrounding nations. Its tremendous imports of goods and services have fueled regional economic growth, with its contribution to Asia's economic growth topping 50 percent last year. Looking ahead, China has inked new plans to spur trade in the region. By 2020, bilateral trade between China and Russia is expected to reach 200 billion U.S. dollars, while China-ASEAN trade is aimed at 1 trillion dollars. As the U.S. and European markets are shrinking in the wake of the devastating international financial crisis, China's economy has gradually embarked on a path of sustainable development driven more by domestic consumption than by investment and exports. Chinese entrepreneurs are now investing hugely overseas, bringing vast cooperation opportunities to many developing economies, whose ongoing economic transition offers both sides large cooperation potential in trade, investment, infrastructure, finance and technology. China's overseas investment brings not only capital and jobs to other countries, but also technology and management experiences. Such mutually beneficial economic and trade cooperation has helped many countries around China to redress their excessive reliance on the U.S. and European countries and infuse fresh growth momentum into their economies. Alongside its efforts to promote the free flow of goods, services and people, Beijing has also increased government scholarships for foreign students to boost youth exchanges. Young people from neighboring nations are encouraged to visit China not only to learn knowledge, but also to see China's development achievements in person and share China's development experiences. The ancient Silk Road has now turned into a massive network of railways, highways, cables and pipelines carrying a tremendous flow of oil, cotton, rubber, and construction and communications equipment. A revival of the ancient network will bring vast profits to numerous businesses along the way, and promote the well-being of billions of people in the region.