2023 Saw a Significant Consolidation of China’s Role in International Diplomacy
In his “2024 New Year Message,” China’s President Xi Jinping detailed the achievements of China during the course of the year and congratulated the Chinese people on their accomplishments: “In 2023, we have continued to forge ahead with resolve and tenacity. We have gone through the test of winds and rains, have seen beautiful scenes unfolding on the way, and have made plenty of real achievements”, he said. “We will remember this year as one of hard work and perseverance. Going forward, we have full confidence in the future.”
2024 is also a special year in that China will proudly celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic. The leadership, Xi pointed out, is committed to “steadfastly advance Chinese modernization, fully and faithfully apply the new development philosophy on all fronts, speed up building the new development paradigm, promote high-quality development, and both pursue development and safeguard security.”
As for the conflicts that “are still raging in some parts of the world”, he stressed that “We Chinese are keenly aware of what peace means. We will work closely with the international community for the common good of humanity, build a community with a shared future for mankind, and make the world a better place for all.”
That same theme was the focus of a a major conference on Dec. 27-28 dedicated to foreign policy, which brought together the country’s top diplomats as well as many political and military leaders. On that occasion, the Central Conference On Work Relating to Foreign Affairs, Xi Jinping outlined China’s major achievements since the 18th Party Congress in 2012, when he himself became the Secretary General of the Communist Party and President of the nation. Since then, he noted, China has become a major force on the global scale and is playing an increasingly important and constructive role in moving the world toward a new direction in international relations. “We have opened up new prospects in major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics, and gained much more strategic autonomy and initiative in our diplomacy. China has become a responsible major country with enhanced international influence, stronger capacity to steer new endeavors, and greater moral appeal,” he said.
He also stressed that while the world is entering a new period of turbulence and transformation, the overall dynamic is one of a shared future for the world community. It was noted, and welcomed, during the conference that US-China relations had stabilized somewhat, but the emphasis was placed on the group of many new friends that China has created, enhancing its diplomatic weight. Xi underlined the growing significance of China’s call for an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, and a firm rejection of “hegemonism’ and “power politics”.
