Relations With Neighboring Countries

Adhering to the principle of treating neighbors as friends and partners, China eagerly pursues a cooperative, win-win peripheral diplomacy. In 2005, President Hu Jintao, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Wu Bangguo and Premier Wen Jiabao paid visits to China's neighboring countries respectively. Hu attended the Asia-Africa Summit and the golden jubilee commemoration of the Bandung Conference in Indonesia in April. Wen took part in the ASEAN Plus China Summit, ASEAN Plus China, Japan and South Korea Summit, and the first East Asia Summit involving the 10 ASEAN countries, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India and New Zealand in December in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. China also reached an agreement with Brunei on furthering bilateral friendly cooperation, signed a joint declaration with Indonesia on establishing a strategic partnership between the two countries and confirmed with the Philippines strategic cooperation committed to peace and development. The traditional friendly ties between China and these three countries have therefore entered a new stage.

The fourth round of the six-party talks on the Korean nuclear issue, participated by negotiators from China, North Korea, the United States, South Korea, Japan and Russia, ended in September 2005 with the adoption of a joint statement, establishing a framework for the resolution of this issue. In the first phase of the fifth round of the talks held in November, the parties agreed to formulate detailed plans, measures and steps to implement the joint statement adopted in the fourth round. China's unremitting efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue have been highly appreciated by the international community.

China also made progress in regional cooperation with neighboring countries and regional international organizations in 2005. According to the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Between ASEAN and China, both sides formally began to grant each other tariff preferences on some 7,000 goods originally produced by the other party. The launch of the tariff reduction program marked the advent of a huge market boasting a population of 1.7 billion, a GDP of US$2 trillion and a total trade volume of US$1.23 trillion.

China's vision of "shelving disputes to engage in joint development" with regard to contentious territories materialized for the first time in 2005. In March, three oil companies from China, the Philippines and Viet Nam signed the Agreement on Joint Seismic Survey of the South China Sea, an important action taken to implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea. The agreement is expected to help resolve the South China Sea issue, and is a pivotal step toward turning the South China Sea into a sea of friendship and cooperation between China and ASEAN.

While enhancing political trust and economic and trade relations, China cooperated with its neighbors in other fields such as antiterrorism, anti-drug trafficking, fighting cross-border crimes, maritime safety, quarantine and disaster prevention and relief. China's good neighborly diplomacy has not only created a sound environment for its economic development, but also made significant contributions to world peace and stability.