A SHARED DESTINY
Do Tien Sam, a renowned Vietnamese expert on China, told Xinhua that he is most impressed by President Xi's Belt and Road Initiative.
The Belt and Road Initiative comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and aspires to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road routes.
Over 100 countries and international organizations have taken part in the Belt and Road and some 30 countries have signed cooperation deals with China to jointly push the initiative forward.
China has inked production capacity deals with 20 countries and jointly set up 46 overseas economic cooperation zones in 17 Belt and Road countries, with an accumulated Chinese investment topping 14 billion dollars and creating 60,000 local jobs.
Meanwhile, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has entered into operation with 57 active participant countries, and the Silk Road Fund and the China-Eurasia Economic Cooperation Fund have also been established.
"President Xi has implemented a new foreign policy suited for the current developments around the globe and region," Sam said.
He believes that Xi has spent a lot of thoughts and efforts on developing his foreign policy, including a new kind of major country relations with the United States, good-neighborly relations with surrounding countries and creation of development projects such as the AIIB.
Ronnie Lins, CEO of a research and business center on China and Brazil, also called the Belt and Road "spectacular."
"These projects involve many countries, bring security to a very important region. In fact both sides get a lot out of it. There are advantages for everyone, such as economic, political and security benefits and good-neighborly relations," Lins said.
Yuri Tavrovsky, a professor with the People's Friendship University of Russia, said China's foreign policy has become more active and systemic under Xi's leadership.
He noted that the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination has gained new content, adding that diplomats of the two countries now maintain more frequent consulations on key issues regarding the global order.
"Xi has adopted the diplomacy of establishing new global economic and financial institutions, like the BRICS Development Bank. Xi's famous Belt and Road has given new hope to the region," said Akram Zaki, Pakistan's former foreign secretary general.
The seasoned diplomat told Xinhua that Xi's plan manifests Chinese wisdom and strong sense of responsibility, and has attracted the whole world towards China.
"Xi has put forward a major concept to forge a community of shared destiny for mankind, after proposing to establish a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation at the core. This concept is becoming another important banner of China's diplomacy," Zaki said.
"Regarding development, President Xi's era has proven fruitful for the under-developed countries, especially in Africa and also in Asia," he noted.
"Whether it's Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka or Nepal, or the central Asian states, they all have been invited to ride the Chinese train of development to achieve prosperity," he said.
