Winter used to be a "cold" season for China's diplomacy, with few foreign leaders visiting the country during the Christmas, New Year and Chinese Lunar New Year period.
But this year is quite different. China's diplomacy has maintained its impetus in early 2002.
Just in the past week, China warmly received Egyptian President Muhammed Hosni Mubarak, who plays a subtle and important role in the Middle East region, and Chairman of the Afghan Interim Government Hamid Karzai, respectively.
Their visits followed the announcement by China and the United States shortly after the New Year holiday that US President George W. Bush will come to China in February for the second time in four months. Bush went to Shanghai last October to attend the APEC economic leaders' meeting.
In fact, Chinese Foreign Ministry officials have kept busy working since the beginning of the new year.
Records of the Protocol Department show that so far this month, seven key figures from Asia, Europe and the Middle East visited China: Nambaryn Enkhbayar, the Mongolian Prime Minister, Lee Man-Sup, speaker in the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, Vojislav Kostunica, the Yugoslavian president, Abdullah Bin al-Hussein, the King of Jordan, and Kjell Magne Bondevik, the Norwegian Prime Minster as well as Mubarak and Karzai.
Chinese leaders and the guests discussed on bilateral relations and economic cooperation, and also held extensive, in-depth exchanges of views on major world affairs concerning the anti-terrorism campaign, the situation in Afghanistan, and regional peace and stability.
Hamid Karzai visited China immediately after he attended the international meeting in Tokyo on rebuilding Afghanistan.
Chinese leaders expressed during meetings with Karzai that as a good neighbor of Afghanistan, China sincerely hopes that the country would promptly initiate economic restoration and national reconstruction. China will take an active part in the process of rebuilding Afghanistan, and will give as much help as possible in this regard.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf visited China at the end of last year amid fierce dispute between India and Pakistan. Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji visited India and Bangladesh this month.
As the common neighbor and friend of both India and Pakistan, China hopes that the two countries would show restraint and settle the problem through dialogue and negotiations to maintain regional peace and stability.
While the conflict of the Palestinians and Israel escalated, the King of Jordan, Abdullah Bin al-Hussein, and the Egyptian President, Muhammed Hosni Mubarak were in China.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin stressed during respective meetings with the two leaders that the only correct way to resolve the Middle East issue is to restore peaceful talks as soon as possible. Violence cannot help settle the problem, but will only increase estrangement and hatred, Jiang said.
Yassar Arafat, president of the Palestinian National Authority, sent a message to President Jiang, calling upon China to carry on its contribution to preventing the situation in the Middle East from deteriorating and to save the peace process.
Also in January, President Jiang and the heads of states of the five Middle Asian nations sent each other telegrams to celebrate the 10th anniversaries of the diplomatic ties between China and the five nations.
They all expressed satisfaction with the existing friendly relations, which lay a solid foundation for the stability of the region.
Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of China, Tajikistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan gathered in Beijing to hold a non-regular meeting under the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, focusing on issues including cracking down on international terrorism.
The fundamental principles of China's diplomacy have been the advocacy of friendship, cooperation, responsibility and trust, as well as adherence to the independent foreign policy of peace, observers here say.
China has made a priority of developing its relations with such major powers as the US, Russia, and the European Union within the framework of all-round diplomacy.
Seeking common ground while allowing differences, expanding consensus while limiting disagreement, and strengthening cooperation and reducing conflict are China's guidelines for handling its relations with the major powers.
China and the US have cooperated closely on anti-terrorism since the September 11 terrorist attack. Jiang and Bush met for the first time during the APEC economic leaders' meeting, agreeing to developing constructive and cooperative relations, and building a medium- and long-term anti-terrorism mechanism.
The overall Sino-US relations have developed in a sound way although having experienced ups and downs, analysts say.
On February 21, 1972, the then US President, Richard Nixon, visited China, breaking the ice in Sino-US relations. On the same day 30 years later, the current US President will also visit China.
Analysts here say that as the largest developing country and the largest developed country of the world, China and the US shoulder the common responsibility to work with other nations for world peace and prosperity in the new century.
(Xinhua News Agency January 28, 2002)
