Xi Jinping (R), general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev in Beijing, capital of China, Jan 8, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]

China's neighborhood appeared to be generally stable last year, although some regional security problems continued posing a threat. The strategic containment policies by major powers such as the United States, and pressing issues like territorial disputes, separatism and terrorism, comprised most of the destabilizing factors for China.

Delivering an important speech at a conference on diplomatic work in Beijing in October, President Xi Jinping vowed to accord priority to neighborhood diplomacy as part of China's overall diplomacy. The conference, presided over by Li Keqiang, the Premier, stressed the significance of establishing a neighborhood community of shared destiny.

By proposing the "One Belt and One Road" initiatives, helping establish the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and setting up the Silk Road Fund, China honored its commitments to the economic betterment of its Asian neighbors.

China's commitments to peripheral diplomacy were a response not only to the complicated and volatile environment it faces, but also to address its growing strength and thus the need for protecting its national security.

In retrospect, China's diplomatic efforts were marked by two major changes last year.

To begin with, it played a more active part in multinational cooperation in regional security, especially in "setting the agenda". In his keynote address to the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia in Shanghai in May, Xi proposed a new Asian security cooperation framework, featuring a common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security strategy. His appeal for "Asians to be responsible for Asian affairs" was echoed by leaders of many countries attending the conference.

Second, military exchanges and security-oriented cooperation between China and some other major powers, including the US, Russia and India, added weight to their fight against both traditional and non-traditional security threats. In fact, Beijing and Washington reached a number of agreements on issues such as cybersecurity, food safety and fighting pirates.

China-Russia cooperation and China-India coordination reflected similar efforts, with the former focusing on satellite navigation and energy exchanges, and latter resulting in India-China anti-terrorism joint training exercise in Pune, India, in November.