Building Relations with Neighboring Countries Based on Friendship, Good Faith, Mutual Benefit and Inclusiveness

At a symposium on relations with neighboring countries on October 24, 2013, Xi Jinping described China’s neighborhood diplomacy as one rooted in the principles for building strong relations with its neighbors based on friendship, good faith, mutual benefit and inclusiveness.

Friendship involves good-neighborly interactions, mutual support and assistance, and frequent reciprocal visits, and is informed by equality, cultural affinity, and empathy. The more we do to win the hearts and minds of our neighbors, the stronger our ties will become. Strengthened friendship helps us win support for the goals we pursue on the world stage, and enhances our appeal and our influence in world affairs. Good faith is indispensable if we want to work with and win trust from our neighbors. We need more friends and partners. Mutual benefit is the foundation on which China cooperates with its neighbors. It helps strengthen networks for those who share common interests, and enables China and its neighbors to benefit from each other as they pursue their development strategies. Inclusiveness is key to regional cooperation. Underpinned by the belief that the Asia-Pacific region is large enough to accommodate us all, it encourages open-mindedness as we work more proactively towards our shared goals.

The emphasis on friendship, good faith, mutual benefit, and inclusiveness represents the essence of China’s policy of good-neighborliness, as part of China’s peaceful development strategy. It also reflects the fresh thinking on foreign policy of China’s new leadership.

“親、誠(chéng)、惠、容”的周邊外交理念

2013年10月24日，習(xí)近平在周邊外交工作座談會(huì)上強(qiáng)調(diào)，中國(guó)周邊外交的基本方針，就是堅(jiān)持與鄰為善、以鄰為伴，堅(jiān)持睦鄰、安鄰、富鄰，突出體現(xiàn)親、誠(chéng)、惠、容的理念。親是指鞏固地緣相近、人緣相親的友好情誼，要堅(jiān)持睦鄰友好、守望相助，講平等、重感情，常見(jiàn)面、多走動(dòng)，多做得人心、暖人心的事，使周邊國(guó)家對(duì)我們更友善、更親近、更認(rèn)同、更支持，增強(qiáng)親和力、感召力、影響力。誠(chéng)是指堅(jiān)持以誠(chéng)待人、以信取人的相處之道，要誠(chéng)心誠(chéng)意對(duì)待周邊國(guó)家，爭(zhēng)取更多朋友和伙伴?；菔侵嘎男谢菁爸苓?、互利共贏的合作理念，要本著互惠互利的原則同周邊國(guó)家開(kāi)展合作，編織更加緊密的共同利益網(wǎng)絡(luò)，把雙方利益融合提升到更高水平，讓周邊國(guó)家得益于我國(guó)發(fā)展，使我國(guó)也從周邊國(guó)家共同發(fā)展中獲得裨益和助力。容是指展示開(kāi)放包容、求同存異的大國(guó)胸懷，要倡導(dǎo)包容的思想，強(qiáng)調(diào)亞太之大容得下大家共同發(fā)展，以更加開(kāi)放的胸襟和更加積極的態(tài)度促進(jìn)地區(qū)合作。親、誠(chéng)、惠、容這“四字箴言”，是新形勢(shì)下中國(guó)堅(jiān)持走和平發(fā)展道路的一份生動(dòng)宣言，是對(duì)多年來(lái)中國(guó)周邊外交實(shí)踐的一個(gè)精辟概括，也反映了中國(guó)新一屆中央領(lǐng)導(dǎo)集體外交理念的創(chuàng)新發(fā)展。