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In October 2013, at a conference on work related to neighboring countries, Chinese President Xi Jinping first put forward China’s fundamental policy guideline for diplomacy with neighboring countries — amity, sincerity, mutual benefit, and inclusiveness. “Amity” stands for close and friendly relations, “sincerity” for mutual trust and honesty, “mutual benefit” for win-win cooperation, and “inclusiveness” for openness and cooperation.
He emphasized that China should treat its neighboring countries with genuine sincerity and seek to make more friends and partners. Guided by the principle of mutual benefit, China will deepen cooperation with its neighbors, weave a closer network of shared interests, and elevate the integration of mutual interests to a higher level. In this way, neighboring countries can benefit from China’s development, while China also gains from the common development of its neighbors.
Not long before this meeting, during a visit to the Central Asian country of Kazakhstan, Xi Jinping put forward an initiative to jointly build a Silk Road Economic Belt with an innovative cooperation mode. From that moment, the Belt and Road Initiative began to take root and grow. Over the next decade, Xi Jinping made more visits to Central Asia to advance and deepen China’s partnerships with Central Asian countries, through bilateral exchanges and multilateral platforms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA).
A defining feature of China–Central Asia cooperation is the strategic alignment of major economic development plans and initiatives at the strategic level. All parties are committed to further strengthening the synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and the development strategies and initiatives of Central Asian countries. By enhancing practical cooperation across various fields, the parties aim to form a new pattern of deeply complementary and mutually beneficial cooperation.
Kazakhstan is the first country in Central Asia to introduce new-energy electric vehicles on a large scale. Yet there is a serious shortage of local technicians with experience in maintaining such vehicles. In December 2023, Kazakhstan welcomed its first Luban Workshop, jointly established by the Tianjin Vocational Institute and East Kazakhstan Technical University. The inaugural program focuses on transportation equipment and technology, featuring four training zones dedicated to vehicle maintenance, fuel vehicle systems, new energy vehicles, and intelligent connected vehicles.
In August 2025, Kazakhstan’s second Luban Workshop was officially inaugurated — a joint initiative between the Tianjin Vocational Institute and the L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University to establish a program in artificial intelligence technology.
In June of the same year, fifteen faculty members from the L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University traveled all the way from Kazakhstan to the Tianjin Vocational Institute for a four-week teacher training program. Anasyr Meyrashev was among them.
“When I was in school, I didn’t have the chance to learn modern technologies. But now, if you want to study internal combustion engine technology, you can come here — there are cars, workbenches, and everything you need to learn. I really envy today’s students. They have the opportunity to put theory into practice, and that’s a great advantage.”
In 2024, in response to local labor market demand, the program developed new standardized courses such as Automotive Transmission and Intelligent Control Technology and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, and launched an innovative education program on Smart Transportation and Artificial Intelligence. Today, outstanding graduates are in high demand and have been eagerly recruited by major automobile manufacturers, as well as metallurgy and mining enterprises across Kazakhstan.
In recent years, economic and trade cooperation between China and Central Asian countries has advanced in both scale and quality. China has become the largest trading partner and a major source of investment for countries in the region. Since the first China–Central Asia Summit in 2023, China has introduced a series of trade facilitation measures to ensure smooth trade flows with Central Asian countries, expand the supply of goods, and diversify bilateral trade structures. As a result, the potential for economic and trade cooperation has been further unleashed, and the scale of trade has reached new heights.
In 2024, trade between China and Central Asian countries totaled 94.8 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 5.4 billion U.S. dollars from the previous year, representing a 7.2 percent growth rate—more than a hundredfold increase from 460 million U.S. dollars at the beginning of diplomatic relations.
In addition to practical economic and trade cooperation, relations between China and the countries of Central Asia have also continued to deepen and be upgraded in recent years.
In 2020, China proposed the establishment of the China–Central Asia mechanism. In July of that year, the first China–Central Asia Foreign Ministers’ Meeting was held via video link, during which the establishment of a regular meeting mechanism was announced.
In 2023, during the first China–Central Asia Summit, President Xi Jinping elaborated on China’s foreign policy toward Central Asia. Together with the heads of state of the five Central Asian countries, he announced the official establishment of the China–Central Asia Summit mechanism.
In 2025, during the second China–Central Asia Summit, China and the Central Asian countries signed a Treaty of Permanent Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation, legally enshrining the principle of everlasting friendship and marking a new milestone in the history of relations among the six countries.
As Xi Jinping said at the virtual summit in 2022 marking the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and the five Central Asian countries:
“No matter how the international landscape may evolve or how developed China may grow, China will always remain a good neighbor, a good partner, a good friend, and a good brother that Central Asian countries can trust and count on. China will continue to firmly support Central Asian countries in following development paths tailored to their national realities, firmly support them in safeguarding sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity, firmly support them in pursuing national revitalization and greater strength through unity, and firmly support them in playing a bigger role on the world stage. China stands ready to work with Central Asian countries to build on the good momentum and strive shoulder-to-shoulder to build an even closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future.”
Xi Jinping once commented on China-Africa relations: “Chinese people of my age have grown up in the warm atmosphere of China-Africa friendship.” In 2013, on his first overseas trip after being elected Chinese president, he travelled to Africa and gave a speech entitled “Be Trustworthy Friends and Sincere Partners Forever” at the Julius Nyerere International Convention Center in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. This speech put forward to the world for the first time the principle of sincerity, real results, amity and good faith in developing relations with Africa, solemnly declaring that China and Africa will always be reliable friends and sincere partners and emphasizing that “China and Africa have always shared a common destiny.”
The defining features of China-Africa relations are sincerity, friendship, mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit, and common development. We get along well and treat each other as equals. Neither side seeks to impose its will on the other. China has done its best to help Africa’s development. Yet China is always grateful to African countries and peoples for their firm support and selfless help over the years. On issues involving the core interests of either side, we have taken a clear position and given unequivocal support to each other.
Equatorial Guinea is located in west-central Africa, with a land area of 28,000 square kilometers and a population of fewer than two million people. Though not a large country on the African continent, its people have witnessed many touching stories of China and Africa standing together through thick and thin and helping each other in times of need.
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1970, China and Equatorial Guinea have walked hand in hand and advanced side by side. Many of the country’s infrastructure projects — including roads, ports, airports, and hospitals — have been built with China’s support, bringing tangible improvements to the lives of local people.
Through projects invested in or constructed by China, more than a thousand Equatorial Guineans have received various forms of professional training in China. In 2022, during an exclusive interview with China Media Group, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo spoke with deep emotion:
“We thank China for providing training opportunities for the young people of Equatorial Guinea. Many of them have very fond memories of their time studying in China and have built close connections with the Chinese people. This demonstrates the deep bonds of friendship that unite China and Equatorial Guinea.”
In 2015, during his visit to China, President Obiang announced a donation to build the China–Equatorial Guinea Friendship Primary School in Jinping County, Yunnan Province, as a token of appreciation for China’s long-standing support for Equatorial Guinea’s development. In 2016, the new teaching building was completed and put into use. Today, the school in Yunnan is home to more than 2,000 students from 16 ethnic groups.
On May 28, 2024, in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, while meeting President Obiang, who was visiting China for the 11th time, Xi Jinping gave a warm and touching opening speech which evoked fond memories of true friendship and past encounters.
“China has actively supported Equatorial Guinea’s economic and social development. We also always remember your country’s acts of kindness — providing timely assistance to the people in the Wenchuan earthquake-stricken areas and donating funds to build a primary school in Jinping County, Yunnan Province. Such mutual support between our two countries is a vivid example of the sincere friendship and joint development between China and African nations.”
The decades of solidarity between China and Equatorial Guinea stand as a vivid chapter in China-Africa relations, which is marked by sincerity, friendship, and a commitment to genuine cooperation.
In the Horn of Africa, the Mombasa–Nairobi Railway and the Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway stretch for thousands of kilometers, forming the “two arteries” of regional development. In Senegal, known as the “Horn of West Africa,” a rural well-drilling project has solved the drinking and irrigation water problems for one-seventh of the country’s population. In South Africa, the De Aar Wind Power Project generates more than 750 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, saving over 200,000 tons of standard coal and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than 700,000 tons. In Algeria, the 500-dinar banknote features the Alcomsat-1 communications satellite — designed and launched by China — whose signals cover the entire country and provide communication services to people in remote areas.
By the end of 2023, China had established 24 agricultural technology demonstration centers across Africa, promoting more than 300 advanced agricultural technologies. These efforts have increased local crop yields by an average of 30 to 60 percent and benefited over one million smallholder farmers on the continent.
China and Africa have jointly implemented hundreds of clean energy power generation and grid projects, bringing light to thousands of homes across the African continent and illuminating the path toward sustainable development in Africa.
Across the vast African continent, countless stories of win-win cooperation between China and Africa can be found.
In September 2024, the Fourth Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit was held. Addressing distinguished guests — including heads of state and government from 51 African countries, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations — Xi Jinping shared his inspiring vision for the future of the China-Africa partnership.
I am confident that as long as the 2.8-billion-strong Chinese and African people are united for this common goal, we will accomplish new and even greater feats together on the way toward modernization, spearhead the modernization drive of the Global South, and make greater contributions to a community with a shared future for humanity.
In January 2025, as China bade farewell to the old year and welcomed the new, Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan received a New Year’s card from the teachers and students of Lincoln High School. On the card, they had written in Chinese: “Welcome the New Year, Long Live Peace, and May China–U.S. Friendship Last Forever!” Xi Jinping and Peng Liyuan sent a greetings card in return to the teachers and students across the ocean, extending warm wishes for the New Year.
More than 100 teachers and students, including some old friends of Xi Jinping, signed this card from the US. In 1993, Xi Jinping first visited Lincoln High School when he was Secretary of the CPC Fuzhou Municipal Committee.
In 2015, during an official visit to the United States, Xi Jinping once again came to the Lincoln High School. He gifted the educational establishment with a table tennis set, and shared the story of ping-pong diplomacy. He also brought a pleasant surprise: funding 100 students to visit China.
“To see a China of a thousand years, go to Xi’an. To see a China of five hundred years, go to Beijing. To see a China of one hundred years, go to Shanghai. But no matter which city you visit — be it one with a history of millennia, centuries, or just decades — each has a modern face. In China, you will witness a vibrant and colorful society unfolding before your eyes.”
A year later, a delegation from Lincoln High School visited China at the invitation of their hosts, touring cities such as Fuzhou and Chengdu. They saw the real China and took home many beautiful memories of their visit.
The story of this special bond continued when Xi Jinping visited the school again on November 16, 2023. Students from Lincoln High School Choir presented a hand-painted artwork entitled Together for a Shared Future. The painting beautifully blends Chinese elements such as giant pandas and traditional archways with Washington State icons like marmots and the Space Needle, expressing their admiration and affection for China as well as their heartfelt hope for enduring China–U.S. friendship and a shared, brighter future.
Later that night, at the Welcome Dinner by Friendly Organizations in the United States, Xi Jinping stressed once again that the hope of the China-U.S. relationship lies in the people, its foundation is in our societies, its future depends on the youth, and its vitality comes from exchanges at subnational levels. In the meantime, he expressed his expectations for China and the United States to bridge differences, overcome challenges, and jointly write a new chapter of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples in the new era. He said,
China never bets against the United States and never interferes in its internal affairs. China has no intention of challenging the United States or to unseat it. Instead, China will be glad to see a confident, open, ever-growing and prosperous United States. Likewise, the United States should not bet against China or interfere in China’s internal affairs. It should instead welcome a peaceful, stable and prosperous China.
On January 18, 2017, in his speech titled “Work Together to Build a Community of Shared Future for Humanity,” he talked about fostering partnerships based on dialogue, non-confrontation and non-alliance. He said major powers should respect one another’s core interests and major concerns, keep their differences under control, and build a new model of relations featuring non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect, and win-win cooperation.
In advocating the important vision of building a community with a shared future for humanity, Xi Jinping took the pioneering step of proposing the building of a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness and justice, and win-win cooperation. Against the backdrop of accelerating change unseen in a century, closer cooperation between China and the United States — based on the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation — would benefit both countries and bring greater good to the world.
Establishing partnerships based on equality, mutual consultation, and mutual understanding is an important direction of China’s efforts to promote global governance. China has always believed that those who share the same ideals are partners, and those who seek common ground while reserving differences are also partners.
Whether with developing countries of the Global South or developed nations in Europe and North America, whether with neighbors close by or countries far across the seas, China’s partnerships with nations around the world are characterized by equality, peace, and inclusiveness. These partnerships have been developed under the guidance of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.
Such partnerships are built on mutual respect, win-win cooperation, openness, and inclusiveness, and should present a contrast against the practice of the strong bullying the weak, the outdated mindset of zero-sum games, and the closed and exclusive politics of small blocs.
China remains committed to developing friendly cooperation with all countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, actively advancing global partnerships and expanding areas of shared interests. This is why China’s circle of friends continues to grow, and why it has ever more companions on its path toward modernization.
If you are interested in listening to this episode of the podcast series Stories of Xi Jinping, please visit: https://podcasts.apple.com/cn/podcast/building-a-world-of-lasting-peace-through/id1689566035?i=1000739247746 ///nCa, 25 December 2025