Channel NewsAsia:

Question from CNA. Chinese President Xi Jinping recently made his first overseas trip in more than two years, attending the SCO summit and meeting leaders from Central Asia. Some observers have described this visit as China's attempt to boost cooperation to check and balance the West. What's your comment on this? Do Chinese top leaders have plans to meet their counterparts from other regions like the U.S. in person, overseas, in the coming months? Thank you.

Ma Zhaoxu:

In the middle of this month, General Secretary Xi Jinping had great success in attending the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO, and making state visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. General Secretary Xi Jinping stayed there for 48 hours, attended nearly 30 events, and met with leaders of 10 countries, which strongly promoted the development of the SCO and pushed relations between China and the relevant countries to a new level. As for foreign trips by Chinese leaders going forward, if there is any relevant news, we will publish it in a timely manner. Please be sure to closely follow the press conferences of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In the past decade, General Secretary Xi Jinping took the lead in practicing and setting a personal example, and carried out a series of brilliant and fruitful diplomatic efforts with heads of states.

When General Secretary Xi Jinping visited Russia in March 2013, he proposed for the first time to promote the establishment of a new type of international relations. He proposed the Belt and Road Initiative during his visits to Kazakhstan and Indonesia in the fall of 2013. In 2015, he proposed jointly building a community with a shared future for mankind at the UN General Assembly. In 2017, he systematically elaborated on the profound connotations of and path to jointly building a community with a shared future for mankind at the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG). When he attended the General Debate of the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly and the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2022, he proposed the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, respectively, to provide Chinese solutions for strengthening global governance.

General Secretary Xi Jinping has said that actions hold the key to building a community with a shared future for mankind. Over the past decade, General Secretary Xi Jinping has made 42 visits abroad, covering 69 countries on five continents, and received over 100 heads of state and government at home. He once made four overseas visits in a month and chaired 70 bilateral and multilateral events in a week. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, General Secretary Xi Jinping has actively carried out "cloud diplomacy." He made 181 phone calls with foreign leaders and heads of international organizations and participated in 78 major diplomatic activities via video link. This February, China successfully hosted the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. We have carried out Winter Olympics diplomacy. General Secretary Xi Jinping hosted over 20 bilateral events with visiting world leaders who all found their trips to Beijing pleasant and satisfying. This June, General Secretary Xi Jinping chaired the 14th BRICS Summit and the High-level Dialogue on Global Development via video link. This has steered high-quality development of the BRICS to a new era and taken solidarity among emerging markets and developing countries to new heights. General Secretary Xi Jinping once said, "frequent overseas trips may be exhausting, but we are repaid with a broader network of friends." Chinese netizens said, "we are seeing the world by following President Xi." All of these have demonstrated the irreplaceable role and strategic value of head-of-state diplomacy.

General Secretary Xi Jinping has made friends all over the world and shared with them the stories of China. He has kept a 30-plus-year-long friendship with his friends in the state of Iowa in the U.S., setting an example of the Chinese saying "only from hearts can friendship lasts forever." General Secretary Xi cited the changes taking place in Liangjiahe village as an example of the historical achievements that the Party has made over the past century. He used the metaphor "whether the shoe fits or not, only the wearer knows" to explain that China has adopted the development path suited to its national realities, which helped the international community to better understand China. These demonstrated General Secretary Xi Jinping's leadership and charisma, positioning him as an approachable leader who values integrity and friendship. It also showcased his international vision of "developing ourselves to help others with the well-being of the world in our mind." Thank you.