And attend "Summer Davos", depth | China's "midsummer diplomacy" craze: Four prime ministers will visit China together, world | global | depth | China

The visit of the US Secretary of State to China and the visit of the Chinese Premier to Europe... China's diplomacy during the midsummer season continued the heat of spring, appearing lively and colorful. In the coming days, the arrival of a new group of guests in China will once again ignite a diplomatic frenzy.

At the invitation of Premier Li Qiang of the State Council, Barbados Prime Minister Motley, Mongolia Prime Minister Oyun Erden, New Zealand Prime Minister Hopkins, and Vietnam Prime Minister Fan Mingzheng will attend the 14th Summer Davos Forum held in Tianjin on the 27th and make an official visit to China.

Analysis suggests that the joint visit of the four prime ministers to China focuses on the word "development". Especially at a time of weak global economic recovery, countries prioritize development and hope to find the right direction for global economic governance, injecting certainty into an uncertain world. In this context, China is expected to provide a large market and great opportunities, and its constructive role has received widespread attention and strong expectations from the international community.

The Five Lakes and Four Seas, VIP Guests Arriving

Upon careful observation, it can be observed that the four distinguished guests who are about to come to China represent countries that are both similar and different.

The similarity is that they are all Asia Pacific countries. Among them, Mongolia is located in the hinterland of Asia, Vietnam is located in Southeast Asia, and both countries are good neighbors bordering China. In contrast, New Zealand is located in the South Pacific, while Barbados belongs to the Caribbean countries. Although far from China, the vast ocean has not hindered these partners from engaging in friendly exchanges with China.

The difference is that New Zealand belongs to developed economies and Western countries, and is also a member of the Five Eyes Alliance. And other countries are developing members. Some analysts believe that for New Zealand, Hopkins chose to visit China first before the NATO summit, which would be an opportunity to balance its foreign policy trajectory. For developing countries, they are optimistic about the vast market and development opportunities that China can bring.

Liu Qing, Vice President of the China Academy of International Studies, pointed out that from the current international situation, the global changes are accelerating, international relations are continuously undergoing profound adjustments, and the instability and uncertainty of the international situation are increasing. The international community needs peace more than ever before. From the perspective of the global economic situation, post pandemic recovery has become a key focus for countries. Both developed and developing countries prioritize development, hoping to find the right direction for global economic governance and inject certainty into an uncertain world.

Another background is that as the world enters a new period of turbulence and change, promoting global development has become a major issue facing humanity. For this reason, China has proposed a global development initiative. Over the past year, cooperation in eight key areas has been advancing in an orderly manner, and the project library has been continuously enriched, achieving multiple early gains. "On this basis, China needs to further engage with developed and developing countries around the world, jointly implement initiatives, and promote economic recovery."

"Against these backdrop, China's diplomacy has both 'inviting in' and 'going out', reflecting the attitude of building a broad 'circle of friends'. Liu Qing said,' Now that the four prime ministers have visited China together and participated in the globally renowned Summer Davos Forum, it shows that they attach great importance to cooperation with China, and secondly, they aim to learn from the global political, business, and academic circles and monitor the world economy. '"

Fu Mengzi, a researcher at the China Institute of Modern International Relations, pointed out that firstly, many of the four countries are in the stage of new industrialization, and their economic growth trend is good. The prime ministers of these countries seeking economic cooperation opportunities and enhancing the stability and resilience of their supply chains in China are a major consideration.

Secondly, some top leaders of certain countries have already visited China, and their prime ministers are here to promote the implementation of important consensus reached by the heads of state and to refine and concretize practical cooperation.

Finally, the Summer Davos Forum attracts representatives from multiple countries to attend, providing a rare offline exchange opportunity for attending dignitaries from various countries. Prime ministers can use this platform to carry out foreign affairs activities such as "in conference meetings".

Mutual needs and diverse attractions

Liu Qing pointed out that the relations between the four countries and China are all in a crucial stage of positive progress. The primary focus of the four prime ministers' visits to China is how to deepen pragmatic cooperation with China.

Let's take a look at Barbados first. It is one of the few high-income countries in the Caribbean region dominated by black people, and also one of the earliest countries in the Caribbean to establish diplomatic relations with China. The two countries have established diplomatic relations for 46 years.

The good relationship between China and Pakistan has a very positive demonstration effect on the entire Caribbean region.

"Barbados is still an important member of Latin America," Liu Qing pointed out. "Motley's visit to China will help push China Pakistan relations to a new level, consolidate the foundation of cooperation between China and Caribbean countries, and deepen China Latin America relations."

Looking at Mongolia again. China and Mongolia are friendly neighbors connected by mountains and rivers. In recent years, the relationship between the two countries has maintained a good momentum of development. What is particularly impressive is that Mongolia once donated 30000 sheep to China to express its support for China's fight against the epidemic, and was referred to by netizens as the "warm sheep crossing thousands of miles".

Fu Mengzi believes that a major highlight of the visit of the Mongolian Prime Minister to China this time is how to implement the consensus reached between the Mongolian President's visit to China last year and China, promote logistics and supply chain recovery, and advance cooperation in the China Russia Mongolia Economic Corridor. Liu Qing pointed out that how to enrich the connotation of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries will be the focus of this visit.

Speaking of New Zealand. Hopkins' visit is the first visit by the Prime Minister of New Zealand to China since 2019, and may go to Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai. China Singapore just celebrated the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations last year. Next year, we will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

Liu Qing said that over the past half century, China Singapore relations have maintained healthy and stable development, creating many firsts and becoming a successful example of win-win cooperation among countries in different social systems, historical cultures, and development stages. Fu Mengzi pointed out that New Zealand's policy towards China has shown strong resilience both within the "Five Eye Alliance" and among developed countries, including the conclusion of a free trade agreement with China and the signing of a memorandum of cooperation on the "the Belt and Road". Hopkins' first visit to China after taking office as Prime Minister highlights the high importance placed on China, and both sides have potential for cooperation in areas such as tourism, resource exports, and new energy.

The New Zealand Herald believes that bringing Chinese tourists back to New Zealand for tourism will be a clear focus of Hopkins' visit. Hopkins also proposed to cooperate with China in emerging fields such as healthcare and gaming, in addition to traditional trade products such as dairy products, meat, and wood. There is public opinion that although New Zealand will still face enormous pressure from its Western allies, it must respond to significant changes in the global landscape.

Finally, Vietnam. Vietnam is a socialist neighbor of China. After the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam last year, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong was the first foreign head of state to visit China. Liu Qing believes that Vietnam is also an important member of ASEAN, and believes that the visit of the Vietnamese Prime Minister to China will help enhance political mutual trust between China and Vietnam, coordinate and promote regional economic integration, and deepen and solidify the relationship between the two countries.

Fu Mengzi believes that Vietnam is in a period of new industrialization, and the difficulties and problems China has experienced in its modernization transformation can bring inspiration to Vietnam. "Vietnam enjoys the benefits of industrial chain transfer and also needs to deal with the problems it brings. Cooperation and exchanges with China may be more conducive to Vietnam finding its appropriate position in the regional industrial chain pattern."

Refusing confrontation and calling for win-win outcomes

Another highlight of the four prime ministers' visit to China is how they interact with attendees at the Summer Davos Forum.

The World Economic Forum usually holds its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland at the beginning of each year, known as "Winter Davos", and has a history of over 40 years. The Summer Davos event in China was jointly proposed by the forum's founder Schwab and former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, and will be hosted alternately by Tianjin and Dalian.

This year is the summer Davos Forum, which has been offline for three years and will be held in Tianjin from June 27th to 29th. The annual conference will be themed "Entrepreneurial Spirit: The Driving Force of the World Economy", with six topics and over 170 sub forums, including restarting growth, China in a global context, energy transformation and material supply, consumption trends in the post pandemic era, and protecting nature and climate and deploying innovation. More than 1500 representatives from more than 90 countries will participate.

Fu Mengzi pointed out that the "Winter Davos" annual meeting in January this year explored how to strengthen cooperation in a divided world, and the overall atmosphere was shrouded in the risks of major power games and various "decoupling and chain breaking". Compared to other countries, the atmosphere of the "Summer Davos" annual meeting may be better, as it will make the outside world feel not only the "camp confrontation" advocated by some countries, but also the call for innovation, coordination, dialogue, cooperation, and win-win.

"On the other hand, the theme of this year's Davos Forum is also very clear, reflecting the important need for global economic recovery." Fu Mengzi said that the forum focuses on topics such as innovation and energy transformation, aiming to reshape the driving force of world economic growth. The forum may discuss the latest achievements in global technological development and their market incubation.

In Fu Mengzi's view, the current global economic recovery is slow, the shadow of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates is still lingering, and debt problems, financial risks, and energy crises are prominent. And China's economic performance brings hope for global economic recovery. Both the OECD and the World Bank have raised their expectations for China's economic growth this year. "This also makes China attractive to the world, as it represents a big market, a big opportunity, and will inject resilience and positive energy into the global economy."

Liu Qing believes that Asia's economic recovery is at the forefront of the world. The Prime Ministers of Asia Pacific countries participated in Summer Davos, hoping to further explore ways to develop the economy in the post pandemic era. China's economic performance is highly regarded by all parties, as evidenced by the recent concentrated visits of globally renowned entrepreneurs to China. With the summer Davos, more people around the world will witness the vitality of the Chinese market and the power of the Chinese engine.

Blooming everywhere, reigniting a craze

Nowadays, "midsummer diplomacy" is still overwhelming and can be said to have sparked a new wave of enthusiasm. The countries that China interacts with cover different types, which is a vivid portrayal of China's comprehensive and multi-level layout of diplomacy as a major country with Chinese characteristics.

Another characteristic is that both bilateral and multilateral diplomacy revolve around the mainline of "development", indicating that China is promoting the construction of an open world economy, sharing development opportunities and gathering development forces in China's integration with the world's openness, injecting positive energy into global economic recovery.

Fu Mengzi pointed out that China's summer diplomacy is full of vitality. Antony Blinken's recent visit to China is an important high-level interaction between China and the United States recently, which shows the common will of the two countries to return to the consensus of the China US dollar summit in Bali, and releases a positive signal that bilateral relations have stopped falling and stabilized. Premier Li Qiang's visit to Europe is also of great significance for the development of China Europe relations. In the second half of the year, there will be several heavyweight multilateral summits. In the complex and ever-changing international situation, China's constructive role has received widespread attention and strong expectations from the international community.

"As emphasized by the Chinese side, China is not the party that creates problems, but the force that solves them. More and more countries are now realizing this," said Fu Mengzi.