Published on : 05/02/2024
2023 was a year of significant and profound changes in international relations. Looking back at 2023, what were the highlights of China's diplomacy?
At a seminar on the international situation and China's diplomacy on January 4, Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs, stated that it was a year of solid advancement of Chinese path to modernisation.
It was also a pioneering and fruitful year for Chinese diplomacy, and Wang listed six noteworthy highlights.
Wang: A new milestone in major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics
Wang Yi stated that throughout 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted two major diplomatic events, attended three multilateral summits, carried out four vital visits, held over a hundred meetings and calls, discussing friendly cooperation and major world issues with all parties as a leader of a large party and country.
Head-of-state diplomacy includes not only strategic high-level dialogues but also heartfelt communications full of humanity. President Xi met and hosted a banquet for Henry Kissinger, a centenarian who has visited China countless times, at the place where he stayed during his first visit to China more than 50 years ago, demonstrating China's fine tradition of not forgetting old friends.
Wang Yi: The Belt and Road entering a new stage of high-quality development
2023 marked the 10th anniversary of the proposal of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Wang Yi stated that the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation was the most important home-ground diplomacy event of China in 2023.
Drawing successful experiences from ten years of achievements, President Xi Jinping proposed eight action plans which showed China's responsibilities; he also declared that the Belt and Road Initiative had entered a new stage of high-quality development, and advocated for the modernisation of the world in partnership with other countries.
Wang Yi: China continues to be a promoter of safety and stability in the Middle East
Under strong support from China, the leaders of China, Saudi Arabia, and Iran reached the Beijing Agreement. Saudi Arabia and Iran announced the restoration of diplomatic relations, which set off a "wave of reconciliation" in the Middle East.
Syria returned to the Arab League family; Qatar and Bahrain, the UAE, Syria and Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Sudan, Turkey, and Egypt and many others restored or normalised their relations.
Wang Yi believes that the Saudi-Iranian reconciliation is a beneficial practice of the solution to hot spot issues with Chinese characters. China has always been an active, well-intentioned, and reliable mediator and will continue to be a promoter of safety and stability, a collaborator of development and prosperity, and a supporter of unity and self-strengthening in the Middle East, making more contributions to regional reconciliation, peace, and harmony.
6 steadfast choices in China's diplomacy in 2023
Wang Yi also claimed that over the past year, facing major issues concerning the future of humanity and the direction of world development, China's diplomacy has always stood on the side of historical correctness and progressive times, making decisions that have stood the test of practice and time:
We firmly choose cooperation between cooperation and confrontation, unity between unity and division, openness between openness and closing, peace between peace and war, multilateral between multilateral and unilateral, and justice between justice and power.
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