China’s Neighborhood Diplomacy in 2018

By LIN MINWANG

THE year 2018 was a good year for Chinas neighborhood diplomacy， with a succession of breakthroughs being made. Most notable of these was Chinas improved relations with two of its major neighbors， India and Japan. The China-India relationship warmed up in the year after the Doklam stand-off in June 2017. The China-Japan relationship has also gradually thawed after the disputes around the Diaoyu Islands in 2012. In addition， Kim Jong Un， chairman of the Workers Party of Korea （WPK） and chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea （DPRK）， visited China three times during the year， attaching great importance to China-DPRK relations. Kim Jong Uns meeting with the U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore also eased tensions in the Korean Peninsula， shifting the focus of Northeast Asia towards economic cooperation.

During the year China played an active and positive role in advancing settlement of regional hotspot issues and promoting regional cooperation and peace.

Improving Strategic Environment

In 2018， China brought the amelioration of its relations with India and Japan a step further with major breakthroughs made.

First， its relationship with India was renewed after the Doklam stand-off. During the 2017 Shanghai Cooperation Organization （SCO） summit in Astana in June， Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed to have an informal meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Three months later at the BRICS Summit held in Xiamen， President Xi actively responded to Modis proposal. Then the two sides prepared for the informal meeting with their foreign ministers and special representatives for border issues exchanging visits. Issues related to Indians pilgrimage to Tibets holy mountains and lakes and those about cross-border rivers were solved. Its noteworthy that on the very day when Chinas annual “two sessions”（the annual meetings of the National Peoples Congress and the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference） concluded， Modi sent a message of congratulations to President Xi. All these served as a good precursor for the following informal meeting between Xi and Modi.

On April 27-28， 2018， leaders of the two countries had their informal meeting in Wuhan， capital of central Chinas Hubei Province. In an amicable atmosphere， the two leaders exchanged views on international governance， bilateral issues of strategic importance， their respective national development visions， as well as their domestic and foreign policies. They reached consensus on a wide range of issues. The informal meeting set the course for the healthy development of bilateral relations. The two leaders then went on to meet on several other occasions to have strategic communication， including the Qingdao SCO Summit in June， the Johannesburg BRICS Summit in July， and the G20 Summit held in Argentina in November.