The Chinese foreign minister looks back on 2017.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi delivered a rather interesting speech on Sunday at the opening of the Symposium on International Developments and China’s Diplomacy in 2017 in Beijing. In the speech, Wang runs through China’s major foreign policy accomplishments in 2017, offering a glimpse into how Beijing conceptualizes its priorities in the Asia-Pacific region and the world. The speech isn’t the first of its kind; Wang had delivered similar reflections in 2015 and 2016.
“The outgoing year 2017 is of special, high significance to both China and the world,” Wang observed, highlighting that the year not only encompassed the start of China’s 19th Party Congress in October, but also saw the first meeting of the Belt and Road Forum, arguably the highlight of China’s diplomatic calendar. The Belt and Road Initiative, since its announcement in late-2013, has become Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature foreign policy undertaking.
Wang provided an updated official accounting of the progress of various Belt and Road-related projects: “Up till now, we have signed Belt and Road cooperation agreements with 80 countries and organizations, conducted institutionalized cooperation on industrial capacity with over 30 countries, and built 75 overseas economic and trade cooperation zones in 24 countries under the Belt and Road framework.
