Looking ahead to China's diplomacy in second half of 2013

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Edited and translated by Liang Jun

The G20 summit will be held in St. Petersburg, Russia in early September, and Chinese President Xi Jinping will participate in the summit for the first time, attracting media attention from home and abroad. With summer coming to an end, Chinese leaders are expected to start their overseas trips, and foreign leaders will also be visiting China. Looking ahead to the second half of this year, there is much anticipation about the form that China's diplomacy will take.

China and the G20 summit

Qu Xing, head of the Institute of International Studies, believes there are two issues regarding China's participation in the forthcoming G20 summit: one is how Chinese President Xi Jinping will present the country's economic situation, and the other is who he will meet outside of the summit's main forums.

Amidst diplomatic discord between Russia and the United States, the U.S. President Barack Obama has canceled a planned meeting in Moscow with his Russia counterpart Vladimir Putin. Attention is therefore focused on whether the Chinese President Xi Jinping and the U.S. President Obama will hold a bilateral meeting during the summit. Qu Xing forecasts the two leaders will meet. He believes a meeting between Xi and Obama reflects not only healthy interaction between China and other major powers, but also the importance of Sino-US relations. Xi Jinping is also expected to meet with some European heads of state, according to Qu.

Jin Canrong, deputy head of the International Studies College of China's Renmin University, thinks a series of meetings of world leaders will be the focus of Chinese diplomacy during the second half of 2013. After the G20 summit, Xi is expected to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.

In addition, in the months to come there will be the APEC summit, the United Nations General Assembly and a series of meetings of East Asian leaders. By convention, the Chinese leader will be present at these events. The issue of how to address China's proposals to push forward the international order in line with the interests of developing countries will attract world attention.

China's diplomatic path is clear

In a period of only five days from August 18 to August 22, world leaders including Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully and Argentine Vice President Amado Boudou made a succession of visits to China. On August 25 both Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic arrived in China.

It should be noted that the above leaders represent countries covering Asia, Europe, Africa, America and Oceania. Many are developing nations which are remote from China. Analysts believe that this reflects China's diplomatic philosophy to make friends.

From Qu Xing's point of view, the broad framework of China's diplomacy is in place, with very clear ideas on how the detail should follow. Based on their new ideas, Chinese leaders have put forward proposals including the ‘Chinese Dream' and a new form of relations among major powers, which provide a path for the next steps in China's diplomatic strategy.

Main challenges come from neighboring countries

Jin said that China's diplomacy is now in a phase of expansion, and that China needs to increase communication to reduce external resistance.

Analysts believe China will increase its efforts in terms of relationships with major powers, in particular Sino-US relations. During his visit to United States this month Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan reached consensus with U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel on a number of issues. Li Haidong, professor with China Foreign Affairs University, thinks it can be expected that Sino-US military exchanges and cooperation will continue to progress.

Li believes that the main challenges for Chinese diplomacy still come from neighboring countries. The current situation in the Asia-Pacific region is complex and challenging. China's diplomatic strategy in the region is important, even critical, and it will also provide a key test to the wisdom of the new leadership.

Read the Chinese version: G20峰会大幕将启 下半年中国外交看点频仍