What role does China play internationally? How will it use its international capabilities and military strength? With whom will it cooperate? These questions have been challenging observers since the beginning of this century.

With increased national strength and successful diplomacy, China has gained more international influence, which helps world peace and development. Chinese leaders will work for a world free of fear, poverty, isolation, and pollution. Is there anything wrong with this aspiration?

2017 was an eventful year for Chinese diplomacy. We may look back on it as the year China cemented its place as a major power in world affairs and reassured the world of its commitment to upholding the existing international system.

China-US relations has entered a new stage that will benefit them both, if they stay on track.

Diplomacy between Presidents Xi and Trump have trickled down to government departments and to the private sector.

Weakening relations between China and Russia limits their ability to check the US.

The inauguration of President Donald J. Trump on January 20, 2017 suggests that U.S. foreign policy is moving away from the Wilsonian liberal internationalism, which has guided American foreign policymaking since the end of World War II, toward the “America-first” Jacksonian populism.

The Trump administration may exert unprecedented strategic pressures on China against the background of continuous implementation of the pivot to the Asia-Pacific. But that is unlikely to boost the US economy for many reasons, and the Republicans’ realist diplomatic philosophy and Trump’s businessman’s pragmatism make it possible for reversals in the next US government’s aggressive China policies.

Despite late sparks from US President-elect Trump, China’s relations with the US, Russia, Europe, Latin America and its Asian neighbors all improved during the year, with promise for long-term stability.

As we enter a new age of globalization with ever deepening economic interdependence and widening gap between rich and poor, cultural interactions and mutual enrichment among nations become the essential determinant in global governance.