Head-of-state diplomacy sets the tone

Despite the global turbulence, China continues to maintain its diplomatic composure, with its head-of-state diplomacy playing a key role in this regard. And the two sessions this year are expected to provide the world with indications of the future development of this aspect of diplomacy with Chinese characteristics.

China's head-of-state diplomacy was "immensely successful" last year, highlighted by the successful hosting of the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and the concomitant talks with the attending heads of state, government and international organizations. These were the first in-person talks since the onset of the pandemic, and they set the tone for China's diplomatic work over the past year by seeking to foster a consensus on rejecting the Cold War mentality, opposing unilateralism, and saying no to clique politics and bloc confrontation.

This has been given further impetus with the recent release of the Global Security Initiative Concept Paper. It lays out 20 priorities for security cooperation, all highly action-oriented, which can be summarized as upholding the United Nations' central role in security governance, promoting coordination and sound interactions among major countries, facilitating peaceful settlement of hotspot issues through dialogue, tackling traditional and non-traditional security challenges, and strengthening the system and capacity for global security governance.

Based on these priorities China has also issued a position paper on the Ukraine crisis in a bid to push forward efforts to promote a peaceful solution to the year-long conflict in Europe.

In demonstrating its unswerving will to safeguard its national sovereignty and security interests, China has firmly countered the United States' containment strategy while upholding regional stability and balancing its relations with other major countries and regions.

The Chinese diplomacy has markedly intensified since late last year when President Xi Jinping visited Central Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. At the same time, China has received visits of many state leaders from around the world.

At the beginning of the year, Foreign Minister Qin Gang made a trip to five African countries as well as the African Union Headquarters and the League of Arab States Headquarters, upholding for the 33rd consecutive year the tradition in which Africa has been the destination for the first overseas trip of the year for Chinese foreign ministers.

Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi just concluded an eight-day trip to Europe, including a visit to Russia, during which the two sides reaffirmed their shared commitment to deepening the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination. And Foreign Minister Qin is attending the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in New Delhi this week.

All these diplomatic overtures show China is increasingly confident in interacting with the world and contributing both its wisdom and solutions to tackle crises and challenges. In stark contrast to the US and some other Western countries' penchant for stoking confrontation and tension, China's diplomacy seeks to promote solidarity and cooperation.