After the conclusion of the First Session of the 14th National People's Congress, China's top legislature, and the First Session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top political advisory body, in mid-March, China is now receiving a batch of foreign leaders this post-COVID spring.

Leaders from both developed and developing countries, as well as emerging economies, all showed their enthusiasm to visit China and their expectation of strengthening bilateral ties and working with China to boost economy and trade.

Exchanging ideas

From late March to mid-April, leaders from Spain, Malaysia, Singapore, France, the EU and Brazil traveled to China to firm up their partnerships with the country.

The visits saw bilateral and multilateral interactions, direct contacts between heads of state and government as well as consultations in economic and trade fields.

"China has plans, actions, will and capability, which makes it more influential in shaping the current international landscape," Li Haidong, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University's Institute of International Relations told Global Times.

During his visit from March 27 to April 1, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, visited Beijing as well as Guangzhou in Guangdong Province and Boao in Hainan Province.

During his meeting with Lee on March 31, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that of the Southeast Asian countries, Singapore has been the most involved in China's reform and opening up and its interests are most closely intertwined with China's. China is ready to share opportunities with Singapore and other countries that are willing to cooperate with it, the Chinese president added.

The two countries have agreed to increase the quality of their partnership and make it more comprehensive and future-oriented.

China and Malaysia reached a consensus on building a China-Malaysia community with a shared future, which will open a new chapter in the history of bilateral relations, Xi said during a meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that same day.

For his part, Anwar said Malaysia is ready to work with China to ensure the implementation and effectiveness of the Global Security Initiative, the Global Development Initiative and the Global Civilizations Initiative put forward by Xi, and advance cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.

Ahead of Singapore and Malaysia, leaders of other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members, Viet Nam, the Philippines and Cambodia, have all visited China in the past months, reflecting the importance they attach to relations with China, Ge Hongliang, a researcher of ASEAN studies at the Guangxi Minzu University, told Global Times.

Post-COVID economic recovery and regional geopolitical stability are the top concerns and major tasks at present for countries in Southeast Asia, he added.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said at the recently concluded China Development Forum 2023 that a 1-percentage-point increase in China's GDP growth leads to a 0.3-percentage-point increase in growth in other Asian economies. She also said that China and India are expected to account for half of global growth in 2023, while others face a steeper climb.

Cooperation remained the keyword for all the meetings held between the Chinese president and leaders who paid a visit to China recently.

In his meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in Beijing on March 31, Xi said China is ready to work with Spain to use the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties as a new starting point to deepen and strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation.

Spain will take over the rotating presidency of the EU in the second half of this year, and will commit itself to promoting dialogue and cooperation between the EU and China, Sánchez echoed.

During the trilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on April 6, Xi called on China and the EU to seek common ground while shelving differences, and learn to accommodate, appreciate, draw upon and facilitate each other's development.

In a world full of uncertainties, the EU and China should work with each other to stay away from the trap of economic decoupling and severing supply chains, carry out mutually beneficial cooperation on an equal footing, tackle pressing global challenges such as climate change and continue to deepen the EU-China comprehensive strategic partnership, Macron said.

China and the EU have established more than 70 consultation and dialogue mechanisms covering politics, economy, trade, culture, science and technology, energy and environment. They have become important and indispensable forces in the process of economic globalization and world multipolarization, Cui Hongjian, a senior researcher with the China Institute of International Studies, told Beijing Review.

As a positive example of China-EU cooperation, the China-Europe Railway Express service has now connected China with over 200 European cities. In 2022 alone, China-Europe freight trains made 16,000 trips, carrying 1.6 million twenty-foot equivalent units of goods, data from the China State Railway Group Co. Ltd. showed.

The Europe-China relationship is a crucial "component of the future," Romano Prodi, former President of the European Commission, said, adding it is important for both sides to resume their direct exchanges in various areas, according to Xinhua News Agency on April 9.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also paid an official visit to China from April 13-15 and co-chaired the sixth round of the China-Germany strategic dialogue on diplomacy and security with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang.

Seeking opportunities

A major reason behind the political leaders' intensive visits is that "China remains an important enabler and anchor of global economic stability," Adhere Cavince, a Kenya-based international relations scholar, told Xinhua.

World Bank Group President David Malpass announced on April 10 the group has raised its global growth forecast for 2023 to 2 percent from 1.7 percent in January, due to China's recovery.

EU countries still face considerable economic uncertainties this year. Moving forward while avoiding recession remains the main task for them, Dong Yifan, a researcher with China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told Beijing Review. "Therefore, further embracing the Chinese market will be an important booster for the steady recovery, and even upgrading, of EU economies," he said.

Bilateral trade in goods between China and the EU stood at $847.3 billion, up 2.4 percent year on year, according to a report released by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade on March 29.

The French president was accompanied by a strong business delegation including European aircraft manufacturer Airbus and France's largest electricity company Électricité de France, in an effort to bolster commercial ties.

On April 6, 36 Chinese and French enterprises signed 18 agreements to expand cooperation in areas including manufacturing, green development, new energy and innovation at a meeting of Chinese and French entrepreneurs.

Taking Airbus as an example—the company and its Chinese partners signed an agreement to open a second assembly line for A320 aircraft at its Final Assembly Line Asia facility in Tianjin. The new assembly line will contribute to its goal of creating a global production network capable of producing 75 A320-family aircraft per month by 2026.

China and Singapore also signed a memorandum of understanding to announce the substantive conclusion of negotiations on an upgraded bilateral free trade agreement (FTA).

The upgraded FTA, which will boost market access for businesses from both countries, adds a new standalone chapter on telecommunications and incorporates high-level economic and trade rules on national treatment, market access, transparency and the digital economy, according to a statement by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

As for Anwar's visit, an op-ed in Malaysian newspaper Sin Chew Daily said it had laid the groundwork for some exciting possibilities in the future, which should provide many economic and trade opportunities for Malaysia.

China, which is working to improve the quality of its development, stands not only as the world's most important consumer market, but also as an important global innovation, manufacturing and industrial chain center. It is now the top destination for the overseas operations of many multinationals, Dong said.

Pursuing stability

The EU and China are each other's important trading partners and the two economies are highly intertwined, von der Leyen said, adding that decoupling from China is neither in the EU's interests nor its strategic choice.

Europe is concerned that a sudden shock to the supply chain caused by geopolitical conflicts, such as the Ukraine crisis, would hit the European economy hard, Dong said. Against this backdrop, strengthening cooperation with China, which has always advocated open and inclusive collaboration, is an important guarantee of stability for Europe. "Europe is looking for, and needs, this supply chain guarantee," he added.

While in an informal meeting with Macron in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, on April 7, Xi stressed that China will never allow selfish interests to influence the way it responds to the Ukraine crisis, and will always stand for fairness and justice. All parties should shoulder their responsibilities and make joint efforts to create conditions for a political settlement, he said.

Macron and von der Leyen both appreciated China's efforts to promote a political settlement and articulated that they expected China to play a more important role in the process. They also said that they are prepared to work with China to find a way to facilitate peace talks.

Parallel to the meeting between Xi and Macron on April 6, Qin met with Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Beijing and witnessed the resumption of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

China successfully brokered Saudi Arabia-Iran talks in Beijing [in early March], which once again demonstrated China's constructive role in promoting peace, Anwar said.

In the process of building consensus among countries, the calls for a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis are growing and will become the only correct path out of the crisis, Cui said. 

(Print Edition: Cementing Ties)

Copyedited by G.P. Wilson

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