Foreign affairs are an extension of domestic affairs. To support and promote development has always been the aim and purpose of economic diplomacy. As China becomes ever more integrated into the world, what happens in and outside the country has been more closely interconnected. This means both greater responsibilities and good opportunities for us to support China's development through economic diplomacy.

First, we worked to create a favorable external environment through economic diplomacy. In the past few years, China successfully held multilateral economic summits, engaged intensively in global economic governance, and advanced the reform in the international financial system. These efforts have boosted China's institutional power in global economic governance and carry great significance in stabilizing the external economic environment, safeguarding China's development interests and expanding space for growth both in the immediate future and in the long run.

Second, we focused on mutually beneficial cooperation to help advance economic transformation at home. Under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, we took active steps to strengthen complementarity between development strategies of China and relevant countries, deepen practical cooperation in trade, investment, infrastructure, among other fields, and enhance people-to-people exchange, which produced important cooperation agreements and outcomes. China has engaged actively in international cooperation in production capacity and signed agreements with over 30 countries in this field, giving a strong boost to the transformation and upgrading of domestic economic and industrial structure. China made good use of major home diplomacy events to inject vitality and energy into development at sub-national levels. Cities like Hangzhou refreshed their economic and social positions after hosting such major events, putting into reality the goal of "upgrading a city by hosting an international forum".

Third, we leveraged various mechanisms to safeguard interests of and expand space in China's going-global efforts. There are currently over 30,000 firms operating overseas. The Chinese people made 122 million trips to other parts of the world in 2016. The Chinese Foreign Ministry and Chinese embassies and consulates have acted proactively to provide information and legal services to overseas Chinese companies, strengthen oversight on major projects, and fully protect the lawful rights and interests of Chinese businesses and citizens abroad. The Chinese diplomatic missions in foreign countries have taken full advantage of their overseas presence to deliver timely information on relevant countries regarding their policies for economic development and priority areas of cooperation to provinces and cities in China and link up Chinese firms with foreign partners. The foreign ministry has translated new ideas into practice, putting forth the global promotion events, a new hallmark platform for provinces and citiessuch as Ningxia, Guangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan, to explore cooperation opportunities with foreign countries without crossing borders and for diplomatic envoys from around the world to reach Chinese localities without leaving Beijing.

V. Sharing China's Development Philosophy

China's rising economic standing and international influence triggered ever-growing reflections and studies in the rest of world on China's economic mode and development path. Many ask: What are the secrets for China's fast economic growth? Can the Chinese economy be transformed successfully? What are the prospects for the Chinese economy? On multiple major international occasions such as economic summits, President Xi elaborated on the Chinese path from both angles of history and reality and in comparison with the paths of other countries. He articulated the philosophy of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development, revealed the essence of the miracle of Chinese growth and shared China's experience with the world. The "Chinese stories" resonate across the globe, showcasing China's confidence in its path, theories, institutions and culture.

At the opening ceremony of the B20 Summit in Hangzhou, President Xi gave a full review of how China was integrated into the world through 38 years of reform and opening up, shared China's experience on development with other countries, and attributed China's success to trail-blazing efforts, result-oriented actions and sharing prosperity. These ideas were warmly received by various communities at home and abroad. At the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, President Xi gave an overview of the development path with Chinese characteristics, providing a useful reference for the international community. He stressed that the path is based on China's realities, drawing on both the wisdom of its civilization and the practices of other countries in both East and West. The path puts people's interests first. Development is of the people, by the people and for the people. The path has enabled us to unleash productivity and social vitality. It is a pursuit of common development through opening-up. While developing itself, China also shares more of its development outcomes with other countries and peoples. These insightful remarks by President Xi have presented great vitality of China's development path, provided a multi-dimensional perspective from which the world may learn about China's development mode and philosophy, bolstered the confidence of all parties in China's development, and brought China closer to the rest of the world.

2017 is not just another year for China's economic diplomacy. We will host two major events – the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (the BRF) and the BRICS Summit in Xiamen. They will be opportunities not just for China's own development, but also for the development of other countries and the world economy. The Belt and Road Initiative is China's response to the world economic conundrum and the bottleneck in global growth. It is one of the important public goods China provides for the international community. By hosting the BRF, China looks forward to working with all parties to deepen partnership, put in place new platforms for cooperation, and bring about a new landscape of development. By hosting the BRICS Summit, China aims to strengthen South-South cooperation, further raise the position and the role of emerging markets and developing countries in global economy, and inject new impetus for better global economic governance and closer international cooperation for development.

China is marching toward a new era where its economic diplomacy can make remarkable achievements.