China’s provincial leaders take centre stage in Beijing’s diplomatic push to charm neighbours

Communist Party chiefs from border regions such as Xinjiang and Yunnan play leading role in campaign to woo Central and Southeast Asia
Observers say strategy to bolster ties with nearby countries now sits at the heart of Beijing’s foreign policy

Belt and Road Initiative

Laura Zhou

Published: 2:00pm, 16 Apr 2023

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Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang declared last month that China had “pressed [the] acceleration button” in diplomacy. In the weeks that followed, Beijing launched a diplomatic charm offensive to strengthen its ties with neighbours, with the leaders of China’s frontier provinces taking centre stage.

Ma Xingrui, the Communist Party chief in China’s far western region of Xinjiang, kicked off the campaign with a four-day, three-country trip to Central Asia in late March.

Meanwhile, Wang Ning, party boss of Yunnan province, crossed the border by foot into Vietnam’s Ha Giang province for his first official visit to the country. He continued his eight-day tour of Southeast Asia with stops in Laos and Myanmar.

Liu Ning, the party chief of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in southern China, also embarked on a trip to Southeast Asia at the end of March, visiting Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia during the 10-day tour.

Also in late March, Jin Guowei, deputy governor of the northeastern province of Liaoning, led a delegation to Japan and South Korea.

Xinjiang party chief Ma Xingrui shakes hands with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev during a meeting in Astana last month. Photo: AFP

The visits by provincial leaders followed the lifting of China’s Covid-19 pandemic restrictions in early January, ending three years of isolation, and the completion of a twice-a-decade leadership transition in mid-March. Observers say the push to bolster relations with nearby countries now sits at the heart of China’s foreign policy.

“Over the past three years, interactions were less frequent, so now it’s an opportunity to resume such engagement,” said Wang Jian, director of the Institute of International Relations at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

“It’s impossible for leaders from the central government to visit so many countries in one year, and these provinces can take advantage of the culture and geographic closeness to implement the central government’s policies.”

Xinjiang Communist Party boss ventures to Kazakhstan on trade mission

During a series of meetings with top leaders from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, Ma reaffirmed Beijing’s commitment to cementing ties with Central Asia, a resource-rich region that is crucial for the security of northwestern China. This is especially true amid concerns that a decline in remittances from Russia and a rising cost of living caused by the prolonged Ukraine war could lead to instability in the region.

“As a region of China, we are responsible for the country’s ties to the west,” Ma told Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, according to the Astana Times.

“We consider Kazakhstan the top priority area for cooperation. In general, China’s cooperation with Kazakhstan is carried out through Xinjiang.”

Before the pandemic, it was not unusual for provincial-level officials to travel abroad.

In the first half of 2018, at least eight provincial leaders made foreign visits, including Li Qiang, then party chief in Shanghai and now China’s premier, who at the time headed a delegation to Cuba and Panama, according to Beijing Youth Daily.

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Engagement at the provincial level has become even more important to Beijing’s efforts to stabilise its ties with its 14 immediate neighbours in an increasingly challenging and complicated international environment.

“There have been some natural bonds – in history, economy, culture and even languages – between these border regions and the neighbouring countries,” Wang said. “Diplomacy between local regions is a strong complement to the overall national diplomatic agenda.”

During his visit to Vietnam, Guangxi party boss Liu met Nguyen Phu Trong, head of the country’s Communist Party, who stressed Guangxi’s deep ties with Vietnam in terms of revolutionary history and urged the two sides to take the lead in promoting cooperation in the economy, trade, tourism, security, defence and people-to-people exchanges, according to English-language daily VietNam News.

In Vientiane, Yunnan party chief Wang and Laotian officials discussed promoting common development and prosperity in border areas, while in Naypyidaw he was received by Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing as well as the ministers of international cooperation, commerce, power, energy and agriculture, according to a statement published on the Yunnan government’s website.

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Yunnan shares 504km (313 miles) of border with Laos, and most of Myanmar’s 2,190km border with China is located in the southwestern province.

Before the pandemic, an estimated 30 million trips were made across the border into Yunnan every year for work, business and family reunions. About 80 per cent, or 24 million, of those trips were from Myanmar, while 17 per cent, or 4.9 million, originated in Vietnam, according to official figures from Yunnan. About 3 per cent, or 1 million trips, were from Laos.

“There used to be very close interactions in the region, through trade and marriage, and these advantages could hardly be replaced,” Wang said.

During their meetings with foreign leaders, senior officials and business communities, the Chinese provincial leaders also stressed their willingness to strengthen cooperation with neighbouring countries in areas such as trade, investment, connectivity, infrastructure, education, culture and tourism, according to Chinese media reports.

The efforts have been good for business. During his tour of Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia, Liu and his delegation from Guangxi signed a total of 145 deals with a value of US$89.1 billion, while Jin from Liaoning pushed forward 77 projects in intelligent manufacturing, renewable energy and new materials.