Chinese leaders have been traveling overseas for official duties more frequently in recent times, indicating that face-to-face meetings between political leaders are back after the disruption from Covid-19. This may well be a harbinger of the revival of in-person communication and collaboration among countries. China should now expand international communication by optimizing its Covid-19 prevention and control measures, to create more convenient conditions for cross-border movements of people. This will help build a new type of international relations, shape a human community with a shared future and create a more favorable external environment for China’s economic growth.
China is proactively conducting diplomacy with countries in its periphery and major powers. Thus, its political leaders’ overseas trips are in the spotlight. In mid-September, President Xi Jinping attended the 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and visited Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Those trips were the first for Chinese political leaders since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic three years ago. A few days ago, Premier Li Keqiang paid an official visit to Cambodia and attended the 25th China-ASEAN (10+1) Summit, the 25th ASEAN plus China, Japan and South Korea (10+3) Summit and the 17th East Asia Summit. These were the first series of meetings among the leadership on East Asian cooperation held in-person after two years. In addition to the frequent trips abroad by Chinese leaders, China is hosting several foreign leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong. With many important international conferences, such as the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP27), the East Asia Summit, the G-20 Leaders’ Summit and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, to be held this month, China is set to promote in-person international exchanges. This is a clear sign that global cooperation has been boosted in the midst of the still-existing pandemic and the evolving international relations. It also shows that face-to-face communication is essential for countries and peoples, and can never be replaced by online meetings.
