Kevin Rudd, the former Australian prime minister and a proficient speaker of Mandarin, gave high marks to Xi Jinping as he reviewed Chinese diplomacy over the past two years - bilingually, of course.

"I read Xi Dada's speech," he said, referring to Xi's speech at the Central Conference on Work Relating to Foreign Affairs last month in Beijing. Xi Dada, meaning Uncle Xi, is a nickname widely used by Chinese netizens.

Xi said at the key foreign affairs meeting that China should establish "big country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics".

"I've read the whole report. You can tell the words in the speech belong to Xi Jinping. It's full of vigor, and concrete, instead of diplomatic cliches," Rudd continued, switching to Mandarin.

Rudd, whose Chinese name, Lu Kewen, is better known in China, kept switching between the languages during an interview recently in Beijing.

He continued his style of an avid commentator of Chinese diplomacy, which is evident in his Sina Weibo postings. More than half a million fans follow his account on the Chinese version of Twitter.

"The obvious change in China's foreign policy is that it is much more activist," Rudd said. "In the past, we observed Chinese foreign policy is very much tao guang yang hui (keeping a low profile), now it is more fen fa you wei (activist)."

"It is engaging, sometimes it is challenging both at one time," he said, explaining that challenging means bringing something new.

He took the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as an example. While some governments are opposed to the China-proposed bank, Rudd took a relaxed attitude toward it.

"I think it is just a new element in the global architecture. It should be welcomed to the West," he said.

"If there is a problem with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, then surely there is also a problem with the Islamic Development Bank in the Middle East because it is a regional initiative. So what's the problem?"

Rudd said it is a healthy thing for Xi to openly discuss Asia-Pacific security and reform of the global order at the meeting, adding Xi especially valued and firmly believed the existence of an all-win development path, which is not about benefiting one or two countries - China and the United States - but bringing goods to the whole world.

"Chinese foreign policy is helping to produce a good outcome," he said. "I welcome that because it's the reflection of China's size in the global community."

Contact the writers at mojingxi@chinadaily.com.cn and zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 12/25/2014 page9)