Highlights of China’s diplomacy in 2011

Diplomacy is the oldest realistic means to protect a country's interests in the international arena. Its nature remains unchanged even today although its expressions are more diverse than before.

In 2011, China set a prior task to protect its citizens and enterprises stranded in conflict areas in Libya before unrest in the country escalated to a civil war.

The Chinese government decisively evacuated more than 35,000 Chinese nationals from Libya, making the largest evacuation since the end of the Cold War.

The Chinese government rented large cruise liners, cargo ships and fishing boats to bring back its overseas workers under the protection of a naval vessel. Meanwhile, planes and buses were also used to transport evacuees.

China used its power to evacuate its citizens rather than shouting words, said Elliott Abrams, senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies of the Council on Foreign Relations, in his article titled "Who's the Superpower? Lessons from Libya," reluctantly admitting that Washington needed to "take lessons from Beijing."

Still on the Libya issue, as one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, China played a mediatory role and appealed for a peaceful settlement to the Libyan unrest, which contrasted with Western countries' war rhetoric.

Yan Xuetong, head of the Institute of Modern International Relations of Tsinghua University noted that international interventions should be applied only to relieve tensions and avoid war rather than to exacerbate domestic riots by supporting militant forces.

In fact, Chinese diplomacy has always followed this principle. On Oct. 4, China, together with Russia, vetoed a western-drafted UN solution on violence-stricken Syria.

China's permanent representative to the UN, Li Baodong, explained afterward that the international community should provide constructive help to Syria to halt its violence and conflicts while respecting the country's independence and sovereignty and territorial integrity.

On the issue of South China Sea, China's policy is appropriate and successful, said Wang Fan, professor of the Institute of International Relations of China Foreign Affairs University.

In face of Washington's high-profile trumpeting of the Pivot to Asia strategy, China upheld its principle of seeking to settle the dispute through bilateral consultations, arranged face-to-face dialogues with countries involved and stated its peaceful stance and cooperative willingness through ASEAN and other multilateral summits, and intensified communication with the United States.

By doing so, it successfully avoided an escalation of the dispute and stabilized the situation, he said.

On international political issues, China has practised both responsible and humanitarian diplomacy, trying to maintain regional and international peace and stability, and help the sick and starved in many poor developing countries.

In the outgoing year, Africa has suffered an unprecedented drought due to extreme weather conditions, which has left about 10,000 people dead and still threatens more than 3.7 million others who live in the region of "Horn of Africa."

China has provided prompt help to its African friends in need, with financial and food aid accumulatively worth about 69.92 million U.S. dollars. The Chinese government has also donated 16 million dollars to Somalia through the UN World Food Program.

To help African countries develop their agriculture, China has launched more than a hundred agricultural infrastructure projects in about 40 countries on the continent, sent 104 senior experts to intensify agricultural technology exchanges and trained 6,000 agricultural workers for Africa.

East Asia is facing a new situation after the demise of top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Il on Dec. 17.

Chinese leaders visited the DPRK embassy in Beijing to express their condolences and reiterated China's policy to continuously consolidate and develop the traditional friendly relationship with the DPRK.

They also said maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula is in the common interests of all parties concerned.