China has made great contributions to the stability and prosperity of Asia. In the process of Asia's rise as whole, China has persistently followed the road of peaceful development, the strategy of mutual benefit and openness and the policy of building friendship and partnership with neighboring countries to promote good neighborly relations, making itself a key force for Asia's peace and development.

China is a major engine for promoting regional economic growth. As the biggest economy in Asia, China has contributed a lot to the overall economic growth of Asia, with the rate exceeding 50 percent in recent years. China has become the biggest trade partner, the biggest export market and also most important investment provider for many Asian countries. The trade volume between China and other East Asian and South Asian countries reached $1.14 trillion in 2013, exceeding the combined volume of China's trade with the United States and the European Union. Half of China's top trade partners are from Asia, while over 70 percent of the country's outbound investments go to Asian countries and regions. In the process of deepening reforms in all aspects, China will offer a huge amount of opportunities and dividends, first benefiting its neighbors.

China is actively engaged in the building of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which will surely inject strong vitality into regional cooperation.

To maintain the stability and prosperity of Asia is the common expectation of people in all Asian countries. Currently, the global economic recovery is unstable, and the economic growth rate in Asia is declining. Some countries' financial markets are undergoing fluctuation and economic transformation and upgrading presents a difficult task. Meanwhile, there is a lack of trust among some Asian countries, with "hot button" issues on the rise and disputes over island sovereignty and over maritime interests.

Asia's development is inseparable from China and vice versa. China has benefited a lot from its deepening communication and cooperation with other Asian countries while in turn, bringing tangible benefits to these countries. The more China is developed, the more it values its good neighborly relations and friendly cooperation with other Asian countries. To create a stable surrounding environment through concentrated diplomatic efforts is crucial for realizing the "two centennial goals" and the great Chinese dream of rejuvenating the Chinese nation. It is the Chinese nation's strategic choice to adopt a peaceful way of development for the sake of its long-term interests. Therefore, China has long committed itself to the solving of differences and conflicts with other countries through dialogues and negotiations. China stands ready to work with relevant parties to jointly safeguard the peace, stability and development of Asia.

In terms of North Korea's nuclear issue, China insists that the Peninsula should be denuclearized, peace and stability should be maintained and questions should be solved through dialogues and negotiations. China is against wars and turmoil on the Peninsula. To achieve the soft landing of the nuclear issue is not only in the interests of China, but also in the interests of all other relevant parties. China will continue to persuade the relevant sides to resume dialogues as soon as possible.

The issue of Diaoyu Islands has long been a bone of contention between China and Japan, rooted in history. The Chinese side is actively working to solve the issue through dialogues, and is ready to strengthen consultation and communication on the basis of facing up to history and reality, so as to effectively control the situation and prevent the occurrence of accidents at sea or in the air.

The two sides need to make arduous efforts to inherit the understanding and consensus reached by the leaders of both parties at the normalization of the bilateral relationship, in order to create new ways of thinking, to seek ways of transcending the current stalemate, and to reach new understanding and consensus, thus pushing the China-Japan relationship towards a more productive channel.

When it comes to issues concerning the South China Sea, China has always committed to solving problems through direct talks and negotiations with the relevant parties. China will continue to implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea together with ASEAN countries and make discussions on "the code of conduct in the South China Sea," and try to safeguard the shipping security and freedom of the South China Sea by conducting maritime cooperation with ASEAN countries, so as to make the waters an area of true peace and cooperation.

Afghanistan is set to undergo the political, security and economic transition this year. China supports Afghanistan to pushing forward national understanding in an extensive and tolerant way. It has actively taken part in Afghanistan's rebuilding of its peace and regional cooperation. China is ready to work with relevant parties to jointly push forward peace and stability in Afghanistan.

The establishment of a new model of the China-U.S. relationship should be undertaken in the Asia-Pacific region. The stability and prosperity of this region conforms to the common interests of both China and the United States, and represents a hope shared by all Asian countries. China is ready to increase communication and mutual trust and for both sides to walk to each other. Through existing various consultation and dialogues channels on Asia-Pacific affairs, China hopes to jointly work with its American counterpart for the long-term peace and development of this region.

China-Japan relations are now facing a level of difficulty unprecedented since the normalization of the diplomatic relation between the two countries. This goes against the region's interests as well as those of the two countries. China is the world's second largest economy and Japan is the world's third largest economy. The two are important economic and trade partners to each other, with their interests being intertwined together. "Peace brings benefits while confrontations do harm to both." China values China-Japan relations, and demands that the Japanese side commit its promises to abide by the four political documents between China and Japan, and cease negative actions and remarks. It's important for Japan to walk towards China, so as to work for the improvement and normalization of the bilateral relationship between the two countries.

Both China and India are developing countries, sharing common interests in extensive areas. In the past 10 years, while conducting negotiations on the border, the two sides have also been working actively to safeguard peace across the border. The bilateral relationship between the two sides is developing in a stable and sound way. As large emerging developing countries, China and India have both the desire and the means to make bigger contributions to promote a fairer and more reasonable international economic and political order.

China will give priority to Southeast Asia in terms of its diplomatic relations with surrounding countries. China supports the integration of ASEAN and is actively participating in regional cooperative mechanisms led by the association, contributing greatly to regional cooperation. In 2013, China and ASEAN jointly celebrated the 10th anniversary of the establishment of a strategic partnership between the two sides. During his visit to Indonesia, President Xi Jinping proposed to establish a closer China-ASEAN community of common destiny together with ASEAN countries and also put forward the proposals for jointly building a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, among other projects. At the China-ASEAN Summit in 2013, Premier Li Keqiang explained the "2+7 cooperation framework" that is to be developed between China and ASEAN in the future. In 2014, the focus is to strengthen communication and cooperation with ASEAN, to promote the implementation of these proposals and to promote mutual benefits and a win-win result between China and ASEAN countries.

As an observer to South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), China is actively engaged in regional cooperation in South Asia, having attended SAARC Summit four times successively, appointed China's ambassador to Nepal to the additional position of the country's permanent representative to SAARC, and held a series of China-SAARC exchange and cooperation programs. China held China-South Asia Expo in 2013 for the very first time. Also in 2013, during his visit to South Asia, Premier Li Keqiang proposed to build the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor and also a China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The relevant work is moving forward smoothly.

The stable development of China is paramount to that of the world at large and even more so to that of Asia. China is ready to further benefit its neighbors in the process of its own development. By connecting the Chinese dream to the vision of Asia's development, China will continue to contribute to Asia's stability and prosperity.

(The author is China's Vice Foreign Minister)