The four-day Boao Forum for Asia has kicked off with the theme of "Asia's New Future: Toward a Community of Common Destiny." This year's gathering has attracted the greatest number of national leaders since the forum was first founded. Chinese President Xi Jinpingwill attend the forum Saturday, to deliver his much anticipated keynote speech.

The Asian Community of Common Destiny is a fresh concept in recent years, which embodies China's new understanding of the country's development. China is an Asian country, and although our modernization was enlightened by the Europe and the US, still, a large number of crucial conditions for our sustained development lie in Asia. How far we can go along the path of emerging as a rising power strongly depends on whether we are good at sharing development opportunities with other Asian countries, and expanding the space for win-win cooperation.

Asia is more of a geographical concept in history. The complexity of this continent is more intricate than all the other continents combined. There are huge variations among people from different areas when it comes to religion, values and territorial issues, and there is a wide disparity between each country's economic development.

While Asia includes the second- and third-largest global economies, four Asian tigers that helped improve regional economic development and countries rich in oil reserves, there are also the poorest and the most war-stricken nations in the world. Asia's political landscape is more disorganized, consisting of socialist countries, successful democratic states, failed nations copying Western systems, and those following the middle path.

Moreover, we are experiencing an increasing number of challenges regarding relationships with neighboring countries, caused either by domestic unrest, regional tensions or political disputes over border issues. These problems have been what Washington's pivot to Asia strategy has relied on, but have also been sore points between China and the US.

The collaboration and integration of Asian countries should start from the economy, to circumvent our divergences and broaden our common interests.

Most Asian countries consider their connection with the West as the starting point of modernization. And now, they also have the capability to support and promote the momentum of each others' development, which has become the new, powerful driving force of Asia's development.

In these circumstances, China's "One Belt, One Road" initiative, with its advantages in fundraising and project construction, will be a key factor to establish the Asian Community of Common Destiny. The more sincerely we promote the initiative, the more profoundly the nations along the route will understand the practical meaning of the Asian Community of Common Destiny.