China values friendly ties with neighbours
Bureau Report

BEIJING—China attaches great importance developing relations with its neighbouring countries. This friendly neighbourhood policy stemmed from the traditional Chinese belief that “a good neighbour near is better than a relative afar,” aims at “bringing harmony, c security and prosperity” to all, reports Chinese State media.
In April alone, top Chinese leaders President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao respectively visited Brunei, Indonesia,
and the Philippines, and Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India to extend friendship, expand cooperation and enhance unity with these neighbours. In its drive, China has pursued a foreign policy of peace and development and is making friends with countries all over the world.
As the biggest developing country of the world, China has made it the cornerstone of its foreign policy to enhance good relations with other developing countries. Meanwhile, China has deepened security and economic cooperation based on enhanced mutual trust with Central Asian nations, and the four-year-old Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), an intergovernmental international organisation jointly founded by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, has witnessed more vigorous cooperation in maintaining regional security and in fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism.
With its growing influence, Mongolia, Pakistan, Iran and India have been accepted as observers of the SCO. China has also maintained good relationship with the 10-member ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) under the “ASEAN-1” mechanism. ASEAN has become China’s fourth largest trading partner with a trade volume of US $ 105.8 billion in 2004.