China should make more concerted efforts to build an inclusive worldwide partnership network instead of seeking exclusive allies

Building a global partnership network is a necessary and correct goal for any country that wants to promote its national interests around the world. But for China, the world's second-largest economy and an emerging power, it remains a grave challenge to achieve that goal in the right way while sticking to its decades-old principle of non-alignment.

According to Foreign Minister Wang Yi, a global partnership network has "basically taken shape" as the country has forged 72 partnerships, including those with 67 countries and five with regions or regional organizations. He told a recent seminar that the network will grant Beijing the ability to plan and build with "greater strategic vision and global scope".

Both President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang are making efforts toward that goal, as shown by Xi's active meetings with various national leaders at multilateral gatherings such as the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation week in China and the G20 summit in Australia, and Li's frequent visits to Central Asia, Central and Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.

Li's visit to Kazakhstan this month was the first formal visit of a Chinese premier to the nation in six years. With bilateral trade growing about 20 percent annually, the two are working to raise the trade volume to $40 billion. A new program this year will transport goods produced in this inland country to global destinations via East China's Lianyungang Port.

Li also prospected the construction of China's Silk Road Economic Belt initiative as a historical opportunity to upgrade China's cooperation with Kazakhstan. The belt will connect China with Central and Eastern Europe through Central Asia.