China outlines diplomacy targets for 2015

"Belt and Road" initiatives, enhancing communication with other countries, expanding the convergence of shared interests and exploring possible areas for further win-win cooperation will be among the key focus areas of Chinese diplomacy in 2015, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Sunday.

China will improve cultural and people-to-people exchanges and speed up talks of free trade areas with relevant countries.

Two main themes will be peace and development, state-run People's Daily quoted the minister as saying on the sideline of the annual session of the 12th National People's Congress.

He said the priorities for China will be promoting connectivity, building overland economic corridors and pillars of maritime cooperation with countries around the world.

This year, China will work with the international community to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the "World Anti-Fascist War" and make itself a strong force for peace by learning lessons from the past and looking towards the future, the report added.

Wang said China will also take an active part in the UN development summit and international cooperation on climate change.

Summing up the diplomatic progress in 2014, Wang said it is worth mentioning that China focused on building a new type of international relations featuring win-win cooperation and has taken a new path of external relations characterised by partnership rather than alliance.

"We have basically established a global network of partnerships," he said.

"China's circle of friends and partners has widened and will continue to expand."

By 2014, China had established different forms of partnership with more than 70 countries and many regional organisations. Wang described 2014 as one of harvest, forging ahead and breaking ground.

During a meeting with India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping observed that bilateral ties between India and China had achieved a turnaround and entered a "new phase" of partnership after his India visit in September last year.

"Since my visit to India, the relations between our two countries have entered a new phase. The positive side of China-India relations has been growing," Xi said.

The external affairs minister's Beijing visit came days after the visit of US President Barack Obama to India that saw both sides announce a joint strategic vision for Asia-Pacific and the Indian Ocean.

Sushma Swaraj's visit was also aimed at laying the ground work for Modi's visit to China, set to take place in May.

The Chinese president's state visits to India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Tajikistan from September 11-19 last year opened a new chapter for China's neighbourhood diplomacy. It charted a fresh course for the "One Belt and One Road" initiatives (the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road).

Beijing also supported "India's aspiration for a bigger role" in the UN Security Council (UNSC) and in return, expected India to help it in building relations in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).