Foreign ministers from CICA members meet in New York, September 24, 2018. /Minister of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Turkey Photo
Bordering 14 countries on land, it is inevitable for China to fall into territorial disputes with some of them. However, under the guidance of upholding dialogue and negotiation, through the years, China has already reached border treaties with 12 countries.
When it comes to maritime disputes, China has also managed to scale down the tensions. On the most heated topic of the South China Sea, China has been striving to work out a settlement.
In August 2017, China and countries of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) drew up and approved the framework of the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.
One year later, China and ASEAN arrived at a single draft negotiating text of the COC in the South China Sea. It has also expressed its hope to complete talks on the COC in the next three years.
"China is very, very big compared with all its neighboring countries, but resorting to force, or resorting to war, is not China's strategic option at all," Gao said. "China is always worried that it does not have more friends, so China is very eager to befriend as many countries as possible to build up goodwill so that we can calm down the situation and resolve the problems as they are."
With all the sincere and good intentions for peace and prosperity in the world and Asia alike, China is about to host the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations starting from May 15.
The meeting is expected to bring together representatives from 47 Asian countries and countries outside the continent for mutual learning and exchange of various civilizations.
"In recent years, we have witnessed wars and conflicts of many kinds in certain parts of Asia especially in the western part of Asia," Gao said, referring to the necessity of the conference. "This has been wrecking mankind as a whole and has caused a tremendous amount of problems, including the refugee problem, in other parts of the world. Therefore, when we talk about civilizations and development in Asia, it really has a bearing on the whole world, and I would say people and governments in Asian countries really want to have a dialogue so that we can really get a better handle on development, on how to maintain stability and how to devote our limited resources to economic development."
(With inputs from Xinhua)
