President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, stand with other leaders during the APEC Summit family photo in Beijing on Nov 10. Xu Jingxing / China Daily

Eased tension

Since taking office in March 2013, Xi made 11 overseas trips to more than 30 countries, half of which were neighboring nations.

Such efforts were paid back as the region, gripped by territorial and historical rows, saw tension soothe in the second half of 2014.

Reuters said that Xi's remarks indicate China is adopting a more conciliatory foreign policy after attempting to ease relations with Vietnam, the Philippines and the US.

Even the most tense relationship, the one between China and Japan, saw a major breakthrough.

The relationship soured after Tokyo's illegal "nationalization" of China's Diaoyu Islands in September 2012 and for two years Xi refused to meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine at the end of 2013.

But then in November a four-point agreement was reached, in which Japan, for the first time, acknowledged the existence of a dispute over the islands.

The agreement was closely followed by a handshake, albeit frosty, between Xi and Abe on the sidelines of the APEC meeting in Beijing. Although their brief meeting seemed awkward, it was nonetheless widely viewed as ice-breaking.

Xi also met leaders from both Hanoi and Manila during the APEC meeting, calling for the proper handling of South China Sea issues that strained ties this year.

Despite choppy waters, the Sino-US relationship saw progress over the past two years. During US President Barack Obama's visit to China following the APEC meeting, both countries agreed to lower the risk of misunderstanding or miscommunication escalating into a military confrontation.

They also announced a landmark agreement to sharply cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, which is expected to throw the weight of the world's top two carbon emitters behind a new global climate pact to be negotiated in Paris in 2015.

Vasily Mikheev, vice-president of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said Xi's generation is working out "a new foreign policy for China, which will help China to cooperate better with other powers in combating global threats and risks to security".

Contact the writers at zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn and mojingxi@chinadaily.com.cn