How China's neighborhood diplomacy promotes shared development

Editor's note: As the year draws to a close, CGTN presents "Anchor of Stability in Shifting Times: China's Diplomacy in 2025," a special series of in-depth news stories exploring China's diplomatic priorities, from the four global initiatives, neighborhood diplomacy and major-country relations to South-South cooperation and green development. Each article assesses the global resonance of China's approach as we enter 2026, giving context and specificity to its vision of building a community with a shared future for humanity.

The cost of durian, long known as the "king of fruits" but priced beyond the reach of many consumers, has plunged in China this year. The price drop reflects much more than just a market adjustment – it is an example of the benefits of the widening flow of goods and cooperation across borders, a trend rooted in expanding transport links and diplomatic engagement with neighboring countries.

The improvements to logistics, such as more efficient rail freight, that have contributed to this shift are part of a broader pattern of economic and strategic collaboration under China's vision of a community with a shared future with neighboring countries.

This vision, highlighted by Chinese President Xi Jinping on multiple diplomatic occasions in 2025, underscores China's determination to foster an amicable, secure and prosperous future with its neighbors. At a high-level conference in April, Xi called for efforts to open new ground for China's neighborhood work, building on a record of successful cooperation.

The China–Laos Railway stands out as a key project illustrating China's deepening cooperation with its neighbors. Since entering operation in December 2021, it has boosted the flow of perishable goods such as durian, with the railway carrying more than 72.5 million tonnes of cargo and facilitating over 62.5 million trips so far in 2025.

These developments have bolstered trade efficiency and contributed to more competitive pricing for imported goods. But infrastructure represents only one aspect of a larger push toward interconnectedness. The conference in April clarified the top-level design and basic positioning of China's neighborhood strategy, guided by head-of-state diplomacy with the objective of building a community with a shared future with neighboring countries.

Just days after the conference, Xi paid state visits to Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia, underscoring the importance of political cooperation and reinforcing relationships that shape broader regional integration. These visits sent a signal that diplomatic groundwork is the foundation on which shared progress is built.

In parallel to diplomatic engagement, institutional and rule-based cooperation is expanding. To date, China has reached common understandings on building a community with a shared future with 17 neighboring countries, signed Belt and Road cooperation agreements with 25 neighboring countries and worked to synergize the Belt and Road Initiative with the cooperation plans of ASEAN and the Eurasian Economic Union. In Southeast Asia, the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol was signed just before the 28th China-ASEAN Summit was held in October, marking a key step towards achieving high-quality development in the region.

Xi's diplomatic outreach this year extended far beyond China's southeastern neighbors. The Chinese president also attended the China-Central Asia Summit in June, where China and the five Central Asian states signed 55 cooperation documents spanning connectivity, industry, green mining, and customs facilitation and agreed to designate 2025 and 2026 as the Years of High-Quality Development of China-Central Asia Cooperation, emphasizing smooth trade, industrial investment and connectivity as shared priorities.

The 2025 China-Central Asia Summit followed its first edition in 2023, which delivered tangible results across the region, with cooperation in emerging sectors among the most visible. Energy cooperation, for example, has taken concrete form. On a vast desert spanning central and southern Kazakhstan, rows of deep-blue solar panels convert sunlight into clean electricity at a Chinese-built photovoltaic project. With a 40-megawatt capacity and commercial operation beginning in late 2025, the plant will generate enough power to supply tens of thousands of households, bringing light and warmth to local communities.

The Chinese president's diplomatic agenda did not stop at Central Asia. His other engagements, including attendance at the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, echoed the same themes of multilateralism and building a community with a shared future for humanity – a vision that Foreign Minister Wang Yi described as China's "glorious banner."