China’s Summit Trail from Xi’an to Shenzhen
Shenzhen will host the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in November, the latest in a string of high‑profile diplomatic gatherings that China has used to project its vision of international cooperation. The agenda is still taking shape, but the choice of the tech‑driven southern metropolis underscores Beijing’s effort to link economic modernization with its broader foreign policy push.
The run‑up has been accompanied by a retrospective look at President Xi Jinping’s hosting record. One often‑cited moment came in May 2023, when Kazakh President Kassym‑Jomart Tokayev celebrated his 70th birthday during a state visit to Xi’an—the same trip that marked the inaugural China‑Central Asia Summit. Xi publicly wished him a happy birthday, framing the gesture with the Confucian saying “is it not a delight to have friends coming from afar?”
Beijing has used such occasions to launch signature proposals. The 2016 G20 Hangzhou Summit, chaired by Xi, put development at the top of the global macro‑policy agenda for the first time, while the Boao Forum in 2022 became the platform for the Global Security Initiative. The SCO Tianjin Summit later unveiled the Global Governance Initiative, and the 2024 conference marking the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence renewed the Global Development Initiative. These summits were accompanied by a heavy personal schedule: at the 2018 FOCAC Beijing Summit, Xi held 11 bilateral meetings before the opening ceremony, and at the G20 he fitted 13 meetings and 11 speeches into just over 80 hours.
Concrete programmes have followed. Beijing says the Belt and Road Initiative, launched in 2013, has drawn nearly US$1 trillion in global investment and created at least 500,000 jobs in partner countries. The 2024 FOCAC summit announced 10 partnership actions and a new positioning for China‑Africa ties. As Shenzhen prepares to receive leaders, the implicit message is that another chapter in China’s summit‑style diplomacy is about to open.
What the Pattern of Summits Reveals About China’s Strategy
Personal Diplomacy as a Recurring Tool
Behind the headline announcements, the stories that circulate in official Chinese media—the birthday wish in Xi’an, the minute‑by‑minute bilateral meetings—are designed to convey a leader personally invested in strengthening ties. The effect is to frame China’s multilateral push as built on trust between individuals, not just on transactional interests. For a host, that personal note can lower the temperature of talks, particularly with smaller or non‑aligned nations that want to see concrete respect beyond broad communiqués.
Initiatives Galore: Selling a Chinese Vision for Global Order
The roll‑call of “Global” initiatives—Development, Security, Civilization, Governance—shows a deliberate strategy: each major summit becomes the launch pad for another pillar of an alternative narrative to Western‑led frameworks. Rather than reacting to events, Beijing is proactively defining the conversation on issues from sustainable development to security architecture. Whether these frameworks gain traction depends on follow‑through, but the consistency suggests a long‑term state‑craft project, not a short‑term PR campaign.
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