From April 8 to 9, the Central Peripheral Work Conference was held in Beijing. The meeting emphasized that we must focus on building a community with a shared future in the surrounding areas and strive to create a new situation in surrounding areas. Under the current international situation, although traditional geopolitical factors and other constraints still exist, China has ushered in a historic opportunity to actively shape the surrounding environment and build a community with a shared future in all aspects.

China has a vast territory and long border lines, with more than 20 neighbors on land and sea, making it the country with the most neighbors among the world's major countries. The surrounding areas are the foundation for China's survival and development and prosperity. They have extremely important strategic significance in terms of geographical location, natural environment or mutual relations. In the short term, maintaining a peaceful and stable surrounding environment is crucial to my country's successful completion of various domestic economic and social development goals; in the medium and long term, building a neighboring community with a shared future is of great practical significance to achieving the second centenary goal, realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, neighboring diplomacy has become a banner of major power diplomacy with Chinese characteristics. With the concept of friendship, sincerity, favor and inclusiveness as the core, the surrounding area is placed in the top position in the overall diplomatic situation. Whether it is the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, the practice begins with neighboring countries. This further demonstrates the special status of neighboring diplomacy in China's diplomacy.

At present, my country's relationship with its surrounding areas is at its best time since modern times. In ancient times, our country had a history of friendly exchanges with the surrounding areas, and material and cultural exchanges and spiritual and cultural exchanges complement each other. In modern times, many neighboring countries or regions have become colonies, and China's surrounding exchanges have gradually been destroyed and even stagnated. After the founding of New China, my country has successively established new diplomatic relations with neighboring countries, and neighboring diplomacy has gradually improved, but it has also experienced twists and turns due to historical reasons. Since entering the new era, the development of my country's relations with neighboring countries has reached a climax. my country has reached a consensus with 17 neighboring countries with a shared future, and signed a cooperation agreement on jointly building the "Belt and Road" with 25 neighboring countries, becoming the largest trading partner of the 18 countries. China has formed an in-depth connection with its surrounding areas of "you have me and I have you", and it is time to build a community with a shared future in the surrounding areas.

At the same time, my country's relationship with its surrounding areas has entered an important stage of in-depth linkage between the surrounding landscape and the changes in the world. The world today is facing major changes unseen in a century, and the rise of Asia is even more eye-catching. In 2024, Asia contributes more than 60% to global economic growth, and the rise of economic volume has led to the weight of "Asian discourse" in the world order. The concepts and experiences summarized by China during its exchanges with its surrounding areas are becoming increasingly accepted by countries around the world. It can be said that China's neighboring diplomacy has long surpassed the original geographical boundaries and has become a key factor in changing the world's geopolitical and economic landscape.

In fact, my country has a very solid theoretical and practical foundation in building a community with a shared future in the surrounding areas. On the one hand, the concepts and policies of good neighborhood, peace, wealth, friendship, sincerity, favor and tolerance, and sharing a shared future, the Asian values ​​of peace, cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, the Asian security model of sharing safety and danger, seeking common ground while reserving differences, and dialogue and consultation have become important theoretical basis for building a community with a shared future in the surrounding areas; on the other hand, my country has built a model of a community with a shared future with bilateral, multilateral and various fields with its surrounding areas, and has begun to build a political security community, a development community, and a social and cultural community that consolidates strategic mutual trust, deepens development integration, maintains regional stability, and expands exchanges. On the basis of the above, continuing to focus on building a community with a shared future around the surrounding areas requires the following two key efforts:

First, further promote the awareness of a community with a shared future to take root in the surrounding areas. Our country is connected to the surrounding land and sea, and depends on each other, and in the face of crisis, we need to work together. Whether it is the Asian financial crisis that occurred at the end of the last century or the recent Myanmar earthquake, it all illustrates this point. Only when more people of countries accept this sense of community with a shared future can China's neighboring diplomacy achieve fundamental breakthroughs and China's neighboring relations achieve long-term and positive development.

Secondly, expand the scope of cooperation in various fields around the border and increase cooperation efforts to accelerate the construction of a community with a shared future in the neighboring neighborhood. In terms of political security, we should solve problems such as cross-border law enforcement cooperation and promote in-depth cooperation in political security; in terms of economic development, we should strengthen in-depth integration in industrial chains, value chains, etc., and build an increasingly close community of interests; in terms of social and humanities, deepen exchanges between education, culture, tourism, youth, sports, media, local governments, etc., promote people-to-people communication, and create more social and cultural exchange brand projects with long-term social benefits.

In short, facing the new situation, focusing more on building a community with a shared future in the surrounding area is not only a short-term breakthrough, but also a medium- and long-term strategy. We must fully and deeply understand the rich connotation of the surrounding community with a shared future, and carry forward this important concept more actively and proactively, unite all parties around us, work together, and work together to build a peaceful, tranquil, prosperous, beautiful, and friendly symbiosis of Asia. (The author is a researcher at the Institute of Asia-Pacific and Global Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and director of the Southeast Asian Research Center)