Amity, inclusiveness foster friendly neighborhood

In October 2013, President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, put forward the principle of "amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness" for China's neighborhood policy at a meeting on neighborhood diplomacy, the first such meeting to be held since the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Over the past decade, this vision has served as a major guideline for the promotion and implementation of strategic initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative, and the building of a community with a shared future in the neighborhood, which has contributed to a better neighborhood environment for China and greater stability and prosperity for the region. In the face of profound global changes unseen in a century, the vision, together with the implementation experience, remains relevant for regional peace, stability, development and prosperity.

First, the principle of "amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness" is a conceptual innovation based on decades of China's neighborhood diplomacy.

The neighborhood is where China anchors to survive and thrive. The neighborhood is therefore always on top of China's diplomatic agenda. Way back in 2013, President Xi stressed that the basic principle of China's neighborhood diplomacy is to pursue friendship and partnership with our neighbors, help build an amicable, secure and prosperous neighborhood, and follow a neighborhood policy featuring amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, successive central leaderships have attached great importance to neighborhood diplomacy and put forward a series of strategic visions and policies. Developing amicable and friendly relations with neighboring countries has always been high on China's diplomatic agenda. Such policies were mainly practiced on the bilateral level before the mid-1980s, and began to gain in weight since the launch of reform and opening-up, when concepts like "close neighbor", "neighboring country" and "neighbors facing each other across the sea" appeared increasingly in China's diplomatic discourse, and "neighborhood countries" and "neighborhood relations" became an integral part of China's overall diplomatic agenda.

Throughout this process, the term "neighbor" has not only referred to the geographical proximity between China and the countries that share the same mountains and rivers, and those with which China has had close contacts in history, but also represented the good-neighborly foreign policy, that is, basic principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and treating each other as equals. The good-neighborly foreign policy gradually developed into one that pursues friendship and partnership with neighbors, and culminates in the policy of fostering an amicable, secure, and prosperous neighborhood.

Under the guidance of these policies, China succeeded in normalizing relations with all neighboring countries, completing negotiations on the delimitation of most of its land borders, and properly handling territorial disputes and issues over maritime rights and interests.

In addition, China has used the establishment of China-ASEAN dialogue as a starting point to build the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, promote East Asian cooperation together with Japan, the Republic of Korea and Southeast Asian countries, and played a leading role in the establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. By 2010, China and its neighbors had jointly built the Asia-Pacific region into a new center of economic growth and forged a peaceful and stable neighborhood.

In the new era, China's neighborhood strategy and work faced new challenges as the neighborhood underwent profound changes. It was against this backdrop that in 2013, for the first time in the history of the People's Republic, the meeting on neighborhood diplomacy was held where the principle of "amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness" in neighborhood diplomacy made its debut. It is fair to say that this is a core concept, embodying the Chinese vision of neighborhood diplomacy, which had been taking shape over decades of neighborhood diplomacy.

Second, the principle of "amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness" opens up new channels to promote China's neighborhood diplomacy.

Around 2013, many new visions of China's neighborhood diplomacy were put forward, including the principle of "amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness", the building of an Asian community with a shared future, the Belt and Road Initiative, and the new vision on security.

Each of the four elements, that is, amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness, comes from the long-term practice of neighborhood diplomacy. But when they come together and become one single policy for improving neighborhood diplomacy, they become an integrated one, playing a guiding role in the promotion of the Belt and Road Initiative, the implementation of the new vision on security, and the development of relations with sub-regions in the neighborhood.

Amity is about peaceful relations, about friendship and closeness among countries. It has roots in people-to-people friendship but now increasingly applies to countries. It lays stress on not only diplomacy by heads of state or political parties, but also social exchanges and interactions. As the saying goes, "the people's heart holds the key to relations between countries". This is in line with Belt and Road people-to-people connectivity. It also serves as the foundation for a community with a shared future in the neighborhood.

Sincerity emphasizes that in exchanges with others, people be true to their words, and countries live up to their promises. This relates to China's long-standing diplomatic emphasis on building political and strategic mutual trust, which is a prerequisite for regional cooperation and an important guarantee for the peaceful settlement of disputes. The promotion of regional economic cooperation and proper handling of the South China Sea issue between China and some Southeast Asian countries are examples of this principle in practice.

Mutual benefit reflects China's longstanding principle of win-win cooperation and reciprocity, which is a successful experience in regional cooperation between China and its neighbors, and also the "ballast" for their stable relations. Following this principle, China has forged a network of common interests with its neighbors to bring them closer, enable them to share the dividends of China's development, and also to benefit itself from the common development of its neighbors.

Inclusiveness advocates a tolerant and open mind as well as openness in regional cooperation, and inclusiveness in the regional order. This echoes the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' call for an open, inclusive and cooperative regional order, and is different from the "Indo-Pacific" strategy of a certain country that is designed to create bloc confrontation. Openness and inclusiveness are fundamental guarantees for the sustainability of regional cooperation.

In the decade since the initiation of the vision of "amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness", China has developed good-neighborly relations and mutually beneficial cooperation with its neighbors. China's visions for development and diplomacy are increasingly recognized and accepted by more countries, as is shown by the synergy forged between the Belt and Road Initiative and the development policies of neighboring countries, the completion of Belt and Road signature projects, and the development of "small yet smart" people-centered programs.

China is in the process of reaching a consensus with more neighbors on building a community with a shared future, and the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative are winning more recognition in the neighborhood.

At a time when the neighboring environment is undergoing major changes and the region stands at a crossroad between cooperation and confrontation, the principle of "amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness" is of even greater significance for China to forge a consensus on development, focus on regional growth, and jointly build an open, inclusive and interconnected world of common development with small and medium-sized countries in the region.

Third, we need to uphold the principle of "amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness", and promote the implementation of the three global initiatives in the neighborhood first.

The vision of neighborhood diplomacy is an important part of Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy. In the next stage, it is important that China further enriches the "Chinese vision" for regional peace, stability, development and prosperity, aimed at building a stable, harmonious, developing and prosperous Asian community with a shared future. Taking the implementation of the GDI, the GSI and the GCI as the right path, and, guided by the principle of "amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness" in policies, China can work with small and medium-sized countries in the region to shape a new regional order.

In order to promote the implementation of the GDI, China should strive to reach a regional consensus on development, and strengthen cooperation with neighboring countries in key areas under the GDI, including climate change, the green economy and the digital economy, scientific and technological innovations, while continuing to deepen and expand cooperation with its neighbors.

To facilitate the implementation of the GSI, China, while safeguarding its national security, should strengthen political and strategic mutual trust with regional small and medium-sized countries, taking into consideration their legitimate security concerns. The differences and disputes between countries should be peacefully resolved through dialogue and consultation, and both traditional and nontraditional security should be safeguarded. Also, continued efforts should be made to better safeguard national security through the development of sustainable security with Chinese characteristics.

As for implementing the GCI, China has a large number of neighbors that have different national conditions and cultures, practice different religions and belong to different ethnic groups. On the basis of mutual respect for each other's values, China should seek a common ground with its neighbors while shelving and/or narrowing the differences, while pursuing common values, sharing more governance experiences, following different paths to modernization, and working together to promote the cultural development and harmonious coexistence in a joint pursuit of a community with a shared future in the neighborhood.

In the layout of China's diplomacy, major countries are the "key" and neighboring countries the priority in promoting neighborhood diplomacy. At a time when the United States' "Indo-Pacific" strategy is aimed at reshaping China's strategic environment as its main goal, the "key" in China's diplomacy overlaps with its "priority", giving more importance to the neighboring area. More importantly, from the perspective of building a community with a shared future for mankind, China's national interests are increasingly bound together with those of other countries.

Also, as China grows in national strength, it is increasingly necessary for it to contribute more to regional peace and stability. This means China needs to not only do a good job of running its own affairs, but also follow the principle of "amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness" in its neighborhood diplomacy, take both domestic and international situations into consideration, and prioritize the implementation of the GDI, the GSI and the GCI in its neighborhood.

This is both feasible and exemplary, and could serve as a beacon for China and small and medium-sized countries to jointly build an open, cooperative and inclusive international order.

The author is a researcher at the Institute of Asia-Pacific and Global Strategy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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