With 2017 coming to an end, the Asia-Pacific has remained the most dynamic region in the world despite a host of challenges, including security threats, a rising trend of de-globalization and an anemic economic recovery. The Asia-Pacific region has continued to serve as the "locomotive" of global economic growth as it is accelerating the process of regional integration and building a community with a shared future for mankind. China, with its focus on win-win cooperation and a slew of feasible, practical solutions, has helped manage and resolve key regional issues, and spurred economic development in the Asia-Pacific region. The Asia-Pacific region, which accounts for 40 percent of the world's population and 60 percent of the global GDP, is faced with severe security challenges, including the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula and territorial or maritime disputes. In order to realize lasting peace and stability in the region, China has taken concrete actions. China issued a white paper titled "China's Policies on Asia-Pacific Security Cooperation" for the first time this year, outlining Beijing's concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, which was in distinct contrast to the out-of-date security concepts of the Western world such as the Cold War mentality, zero-sum game and military force worship. During the 16th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in June, many participants expressed the view that China's new security concepts would be very important for tackling various challenges in the Asia-Pacific region. Tensions in the South China Sea has been eased thanks to unremitting efforts from China and related parties. In November, Chinese and ASEAN leaders agreed to start consultations on the text of the Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea, signalling a new starting point. The Korean Peninsula has seen much tension this year, with the nuclear test of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and multiple US-Republic of Korea (ROK) joint military drills. In order to defuse tension, China has proposed a political solution based on a suspension-for-suspension proposal and dual-track approach. The suspension-for-suspension initiative calls for the DPRK to suspend its nuclear and missile activities and urges the United States and ROK to suspend large-scale war games. In fact, the concept of the China-ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) community of a shared future and the community of a shared future in the Asia-Pacific is becoming a reality with the commencement of such flagship infrastructure projects as the Jakarta-Bandung railway, the China-Laos railway and the Colombo Port City project. Many countries have begun to achieve early-stage harvests from the building of a community with shared future, showing its practical and demonstration effects. For example, the China-Myanmar crude oil and gas pipeline, a pioneer project of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, has brought tangible benefits to Myanmar. The oil pipeline has a designed annual transport capacity of 22 million tons, while the natural gas pipeline has a designed annual transport capacity of 13 billion cubic meters. The crude oil pipeline was put into operation in April 2017, and the gas pipeline went into full operation in 2013. The China-Myanmar crude oil and gas pipeline has effectively driven the development of Myanmar's petrochemical production, raised the degree of local industrialization and electrification, promoted its socioeconomic development and created jobs for the locals. Bernard Goonetilleke, chairman of Sri Lanka's think tank Pathfinder Foundation, said that more than 2,000 years ago, Chinese thinkers dreamed of "great unity in the whole world," and now the idea of building a community of shared future for mankind is making the dream come true. Besides, China's vision of a community with shared future charts a course for the integration of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum as APEC economies pledged to foster a shared future of a peaceful, stable, dynamic, inter-connected and prosperous Asia-Pacific community at the 25th APEC Economic Leaders Meeting in Vietnam. The dual-track approach involves parallel efforts to move forward both denuclearization and the establishment of a peace mechanism on the Korea Peninsula. The Chinese proposal has won extensive support from the international community. The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in October iterated the need for building a community with a shared future for mankind, a concept that has, once again, won applause from the international community.
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'China stamp' on Asia-Pacific development
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- 蕭扉雅