China to play bigger international role: Chinese Blue book

BEIJING: China will play a bigger role in international affairs following recent successes of two major summits and its proposal to boost Asian infrastructure, a state-run think-tank said today.

"The International Situation and China's Foreign Affairs (2015)" particularly highlights the two major summits China hosted in 2014, as well as its proposals to boost Asian infrastructure with the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road project, according to global diplomacy blue book published by China Institute of International Studies (CIIS).

Chinese President Xi Jinping has proposed Maritime Maritime Silk Road and Silk Road Economic Belt aimed to revive revive the ancient trade route by building a wide network of new silk roads on land and seas to enhance global connectivity.

The Maritime Silk Road projects plans to add more than 60,000 kilometres of road, including 4,070 km expressways, and improve the connectivity of the existing transportation network, it said.

"Last year, China played a significant role in multilateral diplomacy and contributed to solving international issues," said Chen Xulong, head of the Department for International and Strategic Studies of the CIIS, referring to the Shanghai-hosted Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia and the Beijing-hosted Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.

"The international community will stipulate an agenda this year to discuss post-2015 development," said Ruan Zongze, vice president of CIIS.

"China will continue to focus on peaceful development and practice in its foreign policy," he told state-run Xinhua news agency.

An English version of the blue book will be published next month. The CIIS is the think-tank of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.