Following the 20^th Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Beijing is to welcome several foreign leaders.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Samia Suluhu Hassan, president of the United Republic of Tanzania, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will pay official visits to Beijing.

The first visitor is from Vietnam

The first visit to Beijing after the CPC Congress came from Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee.

Vietnamese leader Nguyen paid an official visit to China from October 30 to November 2 at the invitation of Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and Chinese President.

 Photo: October 31, 2022, Xinhua

This visit also is the first overseas visit of Nguyen Phu Trong following the CPV’ 13^th National Congress.

During the meeting between the two leaders at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, the two sides agreed to make effort to push the China-Vietnam comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership to a high level.

The joint statement of the two sides stressed that while the world is undergoing highly complex and unpredictable historical transformation and entering a new period of turbulent change, China and Vietnam relations will be evaluated and developed from a strategic and long-term perspective.

Cooperation against colorful revolution

Both sides agreed to keep the China-Vietnam Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation mechanism active, coordinate planning and promote exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in the areas of foreign affairs, defense, security and law enforcement. The two sides are also ready to work collaboratively to strengthen the fight against terrorism and resist “colorful revolutions”, it was noted.

It was reported that the two sides won’t let maritime and other relevant issues between the two countries affect how they deal with them appropriately. Particularly, it was agreed that it is important to properly manage the differences in the South China Sea and to maintain peace and stability.

The Vietnamese side reiterated their commitment to follow the one-China policy and expressed their firm opposition to Taiwan independence separatist activities.

Chinese media commented that the visit is an indication that party-to-party communications will become increasingly important in relations between the two countries. In addition, Chinese experts voiced expectations that efforts by the U.S. and its allies to cause conflict between China and Vietnam will no longer be successful.

Pakistan is a high priority in neighborhood diplomacy

The second visit after the CPC Congress came from Pakistani leader Shahbaz Sharif.

Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif met Xi Jinping in Beijing.

 Photo: November 2, 2022, Xinhua

Xi noted that China has been addressing China-Pakistan relations from a strategic and long-term perspective and keeping relations with Pakistan at the forefront of good neighborhood diplomacy.

Xi thanked Pakistan for its support on issues vital to China’s major concerns, stressing that they firmly support Pakistan’s preservation of national sovereignty, territorial integrity, and development interests, and achieving stability, unity, development, and prosperity.

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to be an exemplary project 

Pointing out that China, which has a global expansion policy, will continue to create new opportunities for the world countries, especially Pakistan, with its own development, Xi said they will advance the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) with greater efficiency and make this project an exemplar of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

Xi stressed the importance of joint efforts by the two sides to accelerate the construction of Gwadar Port’s infrastructure facilities and create conditions for projects such as the Karachi circular railway.

Expressing that they expect Pakistan to export more quality agri-products to China, Xi said that in addition to expanding cooperation with Pakistan in new energy fields such as digital economy, e-commerce and photovoltaic, they will continue to improve cooperation in industry, agriculture, science and technology and to support Pakistan in stabilizing its financial situation.

Xi underlined that China and Pakistan should maintain their strong cooperation in multilateral mechanisms, strengthen coordination in important international and regional problems, and uphold true multilateralism, international fairness, and the shared interests of developing countries.

‘China’s development cannot be prevented’

Shahbaz Sharif also pointed out that deepening Pakistan’s all-weather strategic cooperative partnership with China is the cornerstone of Pakistan’s diplomacy.

Hailing the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor’s significant impact on Pakistan’s social and economic development, Sharif said Pakistan is ready to work with China to accelerate the high-quality construction of the Belt and Road.

“The world cannot operate without China, and China’s development cannot be isolated or contained by any force” Sharif noted at the meeting.

The Chinese press highlighted the importance of the Sharif’s visit right after the CPC Congress, while a greater focus was put on the advancement of the CPEC and other major infrastructure projects between the two countries when the Sharif came to power earlier this year.

New era with Tanzania

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan became the first African head of state to visit Beijing, China after the CPC’s Congress.

On November 3, President Xi Jinping held talks with Hassan at the Great Hall of the People. The two leaders announced the improvement of China-Tanzania relations to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

At the end of the meeting, the two heads of state signed bilateral cooperation documents covering trade and investment and issued a joint statement on extending bilateral relations to the level of comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

Chinese experts expect Hassan’s three-day visit to boost bilateral co-operation and open a new chapter in China-Africa relations.

“We believe that President Hassan’s visit will further bolster the building of a China-Africa community with a shared future in the new era” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian, noted at a routine press conference on Wednesday.

Rais wa Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania Mhe. Samia Suluhu Hassan akiwa kwenye picha ya pamoja na Mwenyeji wake Rais wa Jamhuri ya Watu wa China Mhe. Xi Jinping katika ukumbi wa The People Great Hall, Beijing nchini China tarehe 03, Novemba, 2022. @venusnyota pic.twitter.com/UleqkNtyUM

— ikulu_Tanzania (@ikulumawasliano) November 3, 2022

Olaf Scholz and the German titans on their way to Beijing

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is expected to arrive in Beijing on November 4^th, will be the first G7 leader to visit the country since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Scholz will meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang as part of the Beijing talks. Following Merkel’s last visit to China three years ago, these two leaders have found the opportunity for face-to-face communication, which is acknowledged as an important development.

Scholz’s visit is also interpreted as an opportunity for China to develop cooperation with European countries. Because Olaf Scholz is taking a large delegation to Beijing with him. The CEOs of the German titans will accompany Scholz during the trip: Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Bayer, Volkswagen, Siemens, BioNTech…

Although relations between China and the European Union (EU) have recently deteriorated, China is Germany’s largest trading partner for the past six years and its bilateral trade volume exceeded 245 billion euros (243.43 billion dollars) last year. The Chinese-German trade also directly supports more than 1 million jobs in Germany. In addition, China-EU trade reached $800 billion for the first time in 2021, and two-way investment went beyond $270 billion in cumulative terms.

‘It would be wrong to decoupling from China’

In an earlier interview, Martin Wansleben, managing director of the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry, stressed that Germany cannot leave China and ‘without China, Germany will become even poorer’, adding that “further detachment from China will lead to a loss of prosperity for us.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also wrote for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung about his country’s Chinese policy ahead of his official visit to China.

Scholz said he is opposed to decoupling from Chinese economy but underlined that unilateral dependencies should be reduced.

Noting that Germany’s Chinese policy could only be successful if Europe was integrated with China’s policy, Scholz said that they were therefore in close coordination with European partners and transatlantic friends, including French President Emmanuel Macron, before his trip.

On the other hand, Scholz’s visit sparked controversy in the coalition government. Some people expressed deep concern that the German economy was getting too close to and “over reliant” in China. Even before the visit, calls were made within the coalition government to ‘diversify’ trade with China and “not to be naive in commerce with China.”

Contrary to these claims, the Chinese press states that the Chinese-German economies are complementary and points out that bilateral relations are never a unilateral bond.