Xi aims to boost peace and development with neighbors during trip

Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) holds talks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in Astana, Kazakhstan, May 7, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

Peace and development are the themes of China's diplomacy, and President Xi Jinping's agenda demonstrates that these themes are sincerely meant.

He has been visiting Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus from May 7 to 12, promoting China's commitment to safeguarding world peace and his "One Belt and One Road initiative" to better connect Asia and Europe with infrastructure investments and trade.

The visit, his second overseas tour this year, has clearly followed the pattern of his trip to Pakistan and Indonesia last month. He has witnessed the signing ceremony of multi-billion-dollar agreements to build the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is an essential part of his Silk Road proposals.

When attending the Asian-African Summit and activities commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Bandung Conference in Indonesia, Xi urged all parties to abide by the peaceful spirit of the 1955 Asian-African Conference (the Bandung Conference) to promote peace and prosperity.

After a one-day visit to Kazakhstan, Xi will be spending three days in Moscow, attending the celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of Russia's victory in Great Patriotic War in Moscow with other world leaders. Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin will seek to reach a consensus in connecting China's construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt with Russia's construction of the grand Eurasian passage and the development of the Eurasian Economic Union.

In Belarus from May 10-12, Xi and his counterpart Alexander Lukashenko will be attending a special inspection of a 91.5-square-kilometer joint industrial park in suburban Minsk, which has just opened and has been taken as a sign of Belarus's strong support of Xi's Silk Road initiative. The park is designed to be completed within two decades and around 200,000 residents will be living in this new industrial town, mostly financed by Chinese investments right now, though it is also open to global investors.

In Belarus, which suffered enormously when fighting against German aggression and helping China defeat Japan's aggression, Xi will also pay tribute to veterans of World War II during his stay.

Prior to Xi's visit, vice-foreign minister Cheng Guoping said that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the world anti-fascist war as well as the founding of the UN. And China and Russia are not only major battlefields of WWII in Asia and Europe respectively and the major victors of WWII but also founding members of the UN and permanent members of the UN Security Council.

"The two nations once made huge sacrifices and great contributions to the victory of WWII," Cheng says. "President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin determined that China and Russia will together hold a series of celebrations and commemorations within bilateral and multilateral frameworks this year, and join hands with the international community to remember the history, cherish the memory of martyrs, cherish peace and look towards the future."