Reuters/Beijing

China should “promote peaceful resolution of differences and disputes between countries through dialogue and consultation, and oppose the wilful use of threat of force,” Xi said in a major policy address this weekend, according to a report by the official Xinhua News Agency late on Saturday.

“We have advocated the building of a new type of international relations underpinned by win-win co-operation,” Xi told a meeting of top leaders convened by the Communist Party to discuss foreign policy. China championed “a new vision featuring common, comprehensive, co-operative and sustainable security.”

Xi’s remarks are the latest indication that China is adopting more conciliatory foreign policy tactics and addressing fears its economic growth will inevitably spawn a more muscular diplomatic and military approach.

Earlier this month, China attempted to mollify relations with Vietnam, the Philippines and the US during the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which was hosted in Beijing.

China also has promised more than $120bn since May to Africa, Southeast Asia and Central Asia, including a $40bn New Silk Road fund and a $50bn Beijing-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

“We should increase China’s soft power, give a good Chinese narrative, and better communicate China’s message to the world,” Xi said.

China also should “firmly uphold” its “territorial sovereignty, maritime rights and interest and national unity”, Xi said.

Beijing in recent months has adopted an activist approach to securing its claims to areas of the South China Sea.

Last week, China’s foreign ministry hit back at “irresponsible remarks” from the United States, which has called on Beijing to stop a land reclamation project in the disputed Spratly Islands, after a leading defence publication said satellite images showed China was building an island on a reef that could be large enough to accommodate an airstrip.

China lays claim to almost all of the South China Sea, believed to be rich with minerals and oil-and-gas deposits and one of Asia’s most likely flashpoints. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan also have claims.

“Our biggest opportunity lies in China’s steady development and the growth in its strength,” Xi said.  

Ties between China and Japan have been strained over the past two years after Tokyo nationalised the Senkaku islands—which it already administered—in the East China Sea. Beijing also claims the chain, which it calls the Diaoyu islands.

China and Southeast Asian countries—including Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei—also have competing claims for the Spratly islands in the South China Sea. Taiwan, which China considers part of its sovereign territory, also has a claim to part of the Spratlys.

Xi, both China’s president and Communist Party secretary, added his country would “properly handle territorial and island disputes” but did not name them.

Relations between China and Japan have improved after Xi and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met on November 10, but Chinese coastguard ships have continued to patrol waters around the disputed islands.

The leaders of the United States, Australia and Japan earlier this month called for peaceful resolutions of maritime disputes, after US President Barack Obama warned of the dangers of outright conflict in Asia as China contests disputed territory.

China views the US foreign policy “pivot” to the Asia-Pacific region as an attempt to contain it.

The Chinese leader made no direct reference to the United States in the portions of his speech released by Xinhua, other than saying Beijing should “manage well” relations with other major countries.

“We should fully recognise the uncertainty in China’s neighbouring environment, but we should also realise that the general trend of prosperity and stability in the Asia-Pacific region will not change,” Xi said.