From April 14 to 18, President Xi Jinping paid state visits to Vietnam, Malaysia, and Cambodia, achieving a series of important results and opening a new chapter in which China and its neighboring countries work hand in hand to build a community of common destiny and advance modernization together. At the Central Conference on Work Relating to the Periphery, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed: “We must focus on building a community of common destiny with our periphery and strive to create a new situation in work on periphery affairs.” This provides the fundamental guidelines and points out the direction for advancing work on periphery affairs under the new circumstances. We must gain a deep understanding of the significance, working framework, and value concepts of building a community of common destiny with our periphery; strengthen our sense of mission and responsibility in carrying out periphery work; share opportunities and seek development together with countries in our periphery; and contribute greater strength to regional and global peace, stability, and prosperity, as well as to building a community of common destiny for mankind.

Focusing on Building a Community of Common Destiny with our Periphery to Do Work on Periphery Affairs Well

Since the 18th Party Congress, under the strong leadership of the CCP Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, China has put forward the periphery diplomacy principle of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit, and inclusiveness, and has advocated promoting the building of a community of common destiny with our periphery. Today, China has reached a consensus on building such a community with 17 neighboring countries, forming two major clusters of communities of common destiny on the Indochina Peninsula and in Central Asia. Under the new circumstances, doing work on periphery affairs well requires focusing on building a community of common destiny with our periphery, comprehensively deepening relations with them, and opening up new horizons for friendly cooperation between China and countries in our periphery.

Clarifying the long-term strategic positioning of work on periphery affairs: General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: “From the perspectives of geography, natural environment, and mutual relations, the periphery holds extremely important strategic significance for our country.” China has a vast territory, long borders, and many neighboring countries, making periphery relations and the periphery environment highly complex. The surrounding region is the foundation for China’s security and survival, as well as for its development and prosperity. In the new era, China has convened the Symposium on Periphery Diplomacy and the Central Conference on Work Relating to the Periphery to carry out medium- and long-term top-level design and task deployment for work on periphery affairs. The main task of the Symposium on Periphery Diplomacy convened in October 2013 was to summarize experience, assess the situation, unify thinking, explore the future, set the strategic goals, basic principles, and overall layout for periphery diplomacy for the next five to ten years, and clarify the work approaches and implementation plans for major issues facing periphery diplomacy. The Central Conference on Work Relating to the Periphery held in April 2025 systematically summarized the achievements and experience of China’s work on periphery affairs in the new era, scientifically analyzed the situation, clarified the goals, tasks, and approaches for work on periphery affairs in the upcoming period, and emphasized the need to focus on building a community of common destiny with our periphery and strive to create a new situation in periphery work. Both meetings hold extremely important strategic significance. The Central Conference on Work Relating to the Periphery pointed out: “The periphery is an important foundation for achieving development and prosperity, a priority for safeguarding national security, a key for managing the overall situation of diplomacy, and a crucial link in promoting the building of a community of common destiny for mankind.” This further clarified the top-level design and basic positioning of China’s periphery strategy and pointed the way forward for building a community of common destiny with countries in our periphery.

Grasping the historic achievements and transformations in work on periphery affairs: The Central Conference on Work Relating to the Periphery stated: “Since the 18th Party Congress, under the strong leadership of the CCP Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, we have put forward the principle of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit, and inclusiveness in periphery diplomacy, and advocated the building of a community of common destiny with our periphery. Led by head-of-state diplomacy, we have deepened all-around cooperation with countries in our periphery, strengthened exchanges in various fields, and jointly maintained peace and stability, formed a practical and efficient framework for work on periphery affairs, and driven historic achievements and transformational changes in such work.” Overall, the historic achievements and transformations in work on periphery affairs have mainly promoted and shaped a situation of common development and common security between China and countries in its periphery. For example, the joint building of the Belt and Road has provided a broad cooperation platform for China and countries in its periphery to advance modernization and high-quality development together. China’s development strategy has been linked with those of countries in its periphery and various regional cooperation organizations, forming a pattern in which periphery relations and genuine multilateralism develop in parallel. China and countries in its periphery have jointly implemented the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative, cooperating closely on global issues such as climate change, cybersecurity, and sustainable development. This has injected more stability and positive energy into the world, and also provided valuable practical experience for building a community of common destiny with countries in our periphery.

Deeply advancing the building of a community of common destiny with countries in our periphery: How can this work be advanced in depth and upgraded in quality? It requires a scientific grasp and precise analysis of the global and periphery strategic environment. Regarding the assessment of China’s relations with its periphery, on the one hand, the Central Conference on Work Relating to the Periphery pointed out: “At present, China’s relations with its periphery are at their best period since modern times.” This shows that, after long-term efforts, especially since entering the new era, building a community of common destiny with our periphery faces precious opportunities. On the other hand, the work conference also pointed out that we have entered an important stage in which changes in the periphery configuration and global changes are deeply interconnected. Today’s world is experiencing profound changes unseen in a century, with intertwined turbulence and transformation, strong winds and high waves, and heightened instability and uncertainty. Building a community of common destiny with our periphery thus also faces severe challenges. With the continuity and stability of periphery diplomacy policy, and the solid foundation laid by the historic achievements and transformations in work on periphery affairs, China will have greater confidence, resolve, and strategic composure in deeply advancing this endeavor.

The Work on Periphery Affairs Framework as the Solid Support for Building a Community of Common Destiny with our Periphery

Coordinating work on periphery affairs in an integrated way marks a systematic step forward in China’s periphery strategy. Compared with the Symposium on Periphery Diplomacy held in October 2013, the Central Conference on Work Relating to the Periphery expanded “periphery diplomacy work (周边外交工作)” into “work on periphery affairs (周边工作),” fully demonstrating that periphery affairs have extended beyond the diplomatic realm into a broader scope, becoming comprehensive work that coordinates internal and external matters and addresses economic, political, and diplomatic affairs in a unified manner. Changing “symposium (座谈会)” to “work conference (工作会议)” reflects the Party’s comprehensive emphasis on work on periphery affairs.

When referring to the historic achievements and experience of China’s work on periphery affairs, the Central Conference on Work Relating to the Periphery noted: “We have formed a pragmatic and efficient framework for work on periphery affairs.” Doing work on periphery affairs well requires adhering to Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, focusing closely on the central tasks of the Party and the country, and coordinating the “two overall situations” and the “two major matters.” Work on periphery affairs is an organic component of the Party Central Committee’s governance and works in synergy with other major undertakings to serve the central tasks of the Party and the country. Work on periphery affairs must coordinate the two overall situations of domestic and international affairs. As China moves ever closer to the center of the world stage, its development first affects its periphery, and then the world at large. This requires a framework for work on periphery affairs that coordinates internal and external affairs, and to balance the “two major matters” of development and security. Development and security are the “two wheels” of work on periphery affairs; in a complex environment, it is necessary to maintain the balance between development and security—promoting security that enables development, and development that enhances security.

The Central Conference on Work Relating to the Periphery set requirements and made arrangements for the smooth operation of the framework for work on periphery affairs from both domestic and external perspectives. Domestically, doing work on periphery affairs well requires strengthening the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, and enhancing coordination and cooperation among all sectors. It is necessary to deepen institutional and mechanism reform, improve the system of foreign-related laws and regulations, strengthen capacity and workforce building, and promote theoretical and practical innovation in work on periphery affairs. Externally, building a community of common destiny with countries in our periphery requires consolidating strategic mutual trust with them, supporting regional countries in steadily advancing along their own development paths, and properly managing differences and disagreements; deepening development integration, building a high-level connectivity network, and strengthening cooperation in production and supply chains; jointly safeguarding regional stability, carrying out security and law enforcement cooperation, and addressing various risks and challenges; and expanding exchanges and interactions to facilitate the movement of people.

The framework for work on periphery affairs must maintain innovative vitality and further consolidate and expand major cooperation platforms to meet the new and fast-growing needs for development and security cooperation between China and countries in its periphery. The Central Conference on Work Relating to the Periphery pointed out: “We will take the high-quality joint building of the Belt and Road as the main platform, and the Asian security model of sharing weal and woe, seeking common ground while shelving differences, and engaging in dialogue and consultation as the strategic support.” From the perspective of development platforms, the high-quality joint building of the Belt and Road was first initiated in the periphery and has first benefited the periphery. At present, China has signed cooperation agreements on jointly building the Belt and Road with 25 countries in its periphery and has become the largest trading partner of 18 of them. The joint building of the Belt and Road has also created a three-dimensional connectivity network covering countries in China’s periphery, promoting not only connectivity between China and countries in its periphery, but also connectivity among the countries themselves and within their borders—whether it is hard connectivity, soft connectivity, or “heart-to-heart” connectivity. From the perspective of strategic support, in recent years, China has practiced the Asian Security Concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security, actively participating in and creatively resolving many traditional and non-traditional security issues in the periphery. This has gradually formed an Asian security model of sharing weal and woe, seeking common ground while shelving differences, and engaging in dialogue and consultation, which has strongly supported the framework for work on periphery affairs and provided the region with public goods distinct from the hegemonic models of Western powers.

The Value Concept System of the Community of Common Destiny with Our Periphery

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “Our periphery diplomacy strategy and work must advance with the times and be more proactive.” The Central Conference on Work Relating to the Periphery stated: “We take the joint vision of building the Five Major Homes (“五大家园”) —a peaceful, secure, prosperous, beautiful, and amicable neighborhood—as our shared goal; the principles of fostering good neighborliness, ensuring security for neighbors, promoting prosperity to neighbors, and of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit, and inclusiveness, and a common destiny as the guiding philosophy; and the Asian values of peace, cooperation, openness, and inclusiveness as the basic guideline.” This shows that the value concept system of the Party’s work on periphery affairs is being continuously improved.

Evolution of the shared vision: The Five Major Homes is the concrete expression in work on periphery affairs of the overall goal of building the Five Worlds (“五个世界”) in a community of common destiny for mankind, and it has a distinct Asian character. Asian countries value family harmony, are committed to building harmonious neighborly relations and homes on a broader scale, and regard the state as the common home of its people. Treating the periphery as a shared home is more in line with the survival habits and development characteristics of Asia, the basic approach to cooperation among Asian countries, and is more suitable as the shared vision for building a community of common destiny with countries in our periphery.

Enrichment of the guiding concepts: In the early 2000s, in the practice of work on periphery affairs, China proposed the diplomatic principles of fostering good neighborliness, ensuring security for neighbors, and promoting prosperity to neighbors—principles that gained wide recognition among countries in our periphery. Since the new era began, the guiding concepts of periphery diplomacy have advanced with the times. The Symposium on Periphery Diplomacy put forward the concept of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit, and inclusiveness, clearly conveying the guiding concepts of China’s periphery diplomacy in the new era. The Central Conference on Work Relating to the Periphery added “sharing a common destiny” after “amity, sincerity, mutual benefit, and inclusiveness,” further highlighting the profound connotation of shared weal and woe in a community of common destiny for mankind. This made the expression of China’s periphery diplomacy principles more comprehensive, more characteristic of the era, and more imbued with expectations for the future.

Establishment of the basic guidelines: Work on periphery affairs is a complex two-way and multi-directional interaction that must reflect both China’s value concepts and the shared values of the periphery and Asia as a whole. The Central Conference on Work Relating to the Periphery clarified the connotation of the Asian values shared by countries in China’s periphery—peace, cooperation, openness, and inclusiveness. Since the end of World War II, as some Asian countries have gradually embarked on the path of modernization and achieved significant progress in economic and social development, deeper questions have emerged about the Asian values underpinning Asia’s revitalization. With the development of Chinese-style modernization—especially China’s proposal to advance modernization together with developing countries and all other countries in the world—Asian values have further evolved. Their connotation includes both the shared historical culture and fine traditions of Asian countries and the new common values formed during their joint modernization process. Peace, cooperation, openness, and inclusiveness fully embody the main content of Asia’s traditional culture and modern spirit, and thus have become the shared value guidelines for China and countries in its periphery.