From July 15 to 23, 2014, President Xi Jinping attended the sixth BRICS Summit in Brazil upon invitation, paid state visits to Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Cuba, and attended the China-Latin America and the Caribbean Summit. At the end of the trip, Foreign Minister Wang Yi briefed reporters on it.

Wang Yi said that recently, a wave of "Latin Heat" has swept over the international community. Soon after the World Cup in Brazil has just wrapped up, the BRICS Summit followed to open grandly. Xi Jinping's visits to the four Latin American countries added strong Chinese temperature to the wave of "Latin Heat".

Wang Yi pointed out that the emergence of this wave of "Latin Heat" is not an accidental event, but rather a reflection of the trend of the times that emerging markets and developing countries are group-rising in the world. As the major emerging and developing countries, the BRICS countries including China, Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa are important forces in international relations and positive constructors of the international system. Latin America is one of the most concentrative areas of developing countries and a continuously emerging international power. Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Cuba are all representative countries in the Latin American region. Strengthening cooperation with BRICS countries and Latin American countries is an important direction of China's diplomacy in the new era. The visits of President Xi Jinping aimed at elevating and boosting international community's confidence in emerging markets, promoting common development and mutually beneficial cooperation among developing countries, pushing forward governance and reform of global economy, and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries.

President Xi Jinping's visits were tightly-scheduled with rich multilateral and bilateral activities, and yielded fruitful achievements. President Xi Jinping attended more than 70 multilateral and bilateral activities in total, and met with more than 20 heads of state or heads of government. He has reached significant strategic consensuses, signed a number of important political documents and economic and trade agreements with huge amount of money, had deep and cooperative conversations, inspiring speeches, and effective interaction with local people. The visits drew great attention from the international public opinion and was closely tracked and extensively covered by the media, which described those successful visits as a milestone.

First, embark on the new path of practical cooperation among BRICS countries

The BRICS Summit has entered its second round. For the past five years, the cooperation framework has been built among BRICS countries, and the content has been enriched increasingly. However, under the influence of the international economic environment, the economic growth of some BRICS countries has slowed; some people in the international community consider that the color of BRICS has somewhat faded. Therefore, the major task of this Summit is to strengthen coordination, promote cooperation, restore confidence, and plan for the future.

President Xi Jinping proposed at the Summit to build an open, inclusive, cooperative and win-win spirit of the BRICS and a closer, more comprehensive, and stronger partnership, carry out all-round cooperation, set up and practice a new security concept, construct an open world economy, improve global economic governance, and enhance the representativeness and voice of the developing countries. The declaration passed by the Summit widely adopts these policies and proposals, and it has become an important principle guiding the cooperation among BRICS countries, and reflected the leading role played by China.

Under President Xi Jinping's personal coordination and promotion, the five countries decided to establish the BRICS Development Bank and the Contingency Reserve Arrangement. This is a multilateral financial institution established independently by developing countries, and is also a major initiative to build a financial safety network. It not only provides strong support for the economic development of BRICS countries and developing countries, but also adds another protective screen for developing countries to prevent financial risks. All of these mark that cooperation among BRICS countries has moved from concept to the shaping of an entity. The headquarters of the Development Bank is located in Shanghai, which reflects the trust and confidence of all sides towards China. The establishment of the BRICS Development Bank and the Contingency Reserve Arrangement is not to weaken or impact the existing international system, but to better complement and improve the current global economic and financial mechanism.

This meeting has included the issue of political security in the agenda for the first time, which is another huge progress of BRICS cooperation. President Xi Jinping stressed in his speech that BRICS countries should not only be the anchor of economic stability in the world, but also the shield of international peace, so as to combine their own development with world peace and stability. All sides exchanged views and coordinated positions on international security situation, regional hotspot issues including Iraq, Iranian nuclear, Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, and Palestine-Israel, and global issues including terrorism, climate change, energy security, grain security and network security. They reached broad consensuses, made their voice heard, and strengthened the voice and influence of the developing countries in the international arena.

Leaders of the BRICS countries including President Xi Jinping also held dialogues with leaders of South American countries, which embodies the openness and inclusiveness of the BRICS mechanism.

Besides, the BRICS Summit continued to become the important platform for promoting the development of bilateral relations. During the Summit, President Xi Jinping met with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, and the two heads of state said that both sides will further implement a series of important consensuses and agreements between the two countries, continuously reinforce mutual political support, jointly carry out more major strategic projects, and start the negotiations on the west line of China-Russia natural gas pipelines at an early date. During his meeting with President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, the two heads of state agreed to strengthen the cooperation between China and South Africa, promote peace, security and development in Africa, and jointly hold the ministerial meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation successfully next year. The meeting between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India was the first between the leaders of the two countries after India's new government was in office. Both sides jointly sent a strong signal of strengthening friendly cooperation between China and India to the outside world, realizing the smooth transition of the China-India relations after India's general election.

President Xi Jinping also held telephone talks with President Barack Obama of the US upon request. The two heads of state confirmed again to promote the building of the new model of major country relationship between China and the US. Both sides will make careful preparation for President Obama's visit to China and his attendance at the APEC Informal Leaders' Meeting this November, and keep communication and coordination on international and regional hotspot issues.

Second, promote the relations between China and four Latin American countries to a new level

Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, and Cuba are China's good friends and important cooperative partners in Latin America. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relationship between China and Brazil, and between China and Venezuela, and marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the strategic partnership between China and Argentina. The relations between China and the four countries are at a critical stage of inheriting the past and ushering in the future.

President Xi Jinping held in-depth and fruitful talks with the four heads of state. They summarized the development experience of the bilateral relations and jointly planned their future cooperation. China and Argentina, and China and Venezuela decided to upgrade the bilateral relations to the comprehensive strategic partnership. China and Brazil agreed to advance the comprehensive strategic partnership in terms of higher level, wilder fields and larger stage. China and Cuba are committed to being good friends, good comrades and good brothers on the path of building socialism. President Xi Jinping had in-depth exchanges on governance and administration of state affairs with the four heads of state, and they all agreed to firmly support each other's choice of development path and each other's position on issues concerning their core interests such as safeguarding sovereignty, security and territorial integrity. They also agreed to firmly support developing countries to maintain and expand their own legitimate rights and interests.

As for the bilateral cooperation, President Xi Jinping showed great foresight and spirits of openness and pragmatism. He proposed to enhance macroeconomic policy coordination, expand and deepen practical cooperation, develop a number of major strategic projects by integrating the development strategies of the four countries with China's reform and opening-up, resource advantages of the four countries with China's market potential, and development demands of the four countries with China's capital, technology and equipment advantages. During his visits, China signed more than 150 contracts and framework agreements in total with the four countries, involving an amount of about 70 billion USD and covering areas such as energy, mining, electric power, agriculture, science and technology, infrastructure construction and finance. China, Brazil and Peru decided to jointly discuss the construction of the Two-Ocean Railway that connects the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. China and Argentina have signed agreements concerning bilateral currency swap and nuclear power cooperation. China and Venezuela will deepen their cooperation in petroleum, petrochemicals and finance and establish new cooperation and development fund. China and Cuba will enhance cooperation in agriculture, biomedicine and renewable energy resources. These major projects will inject "China's Strength" and "China's Speed" into the development of Latin American countries and also encourage Chinese enterprises to go out to a wider and farther degree.

Latin America is one of the cradles of human civilization. During his visits, President Xi Jinping repeatedly stressed that we should respect civilization diversity and promote exchanges between different civilizations to learn from each other so as to seek common progress. China decides to further facilitate the bilateral personnel exchanges, promote people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and enhance mutual understanding and friendship with the four countries. China will cultivate more talents for the four countries. President Xi Jinping has actively carried out public diplomacy. He delivered a speech at the National Congress of Brazil, visited a farm in Argentina and the construction of residential buildings in Venezuela, and communicated and interacted with people in Cuba. All these activities have narrowed the distance between those local people and China.

The four countries attached great importance to President Xi Jinping's visits and received him in a high-standard, special and friendly manner. When Brazil was holding several large international activities, it has made elaborate arrangements and given a grand reception to President Xi Jinping's visit. The cavalry guarded President Xi Jinping to attend the welcome ceremony, which has not been seen for many years in Brazil. In Venezuela, wherever President Xi Jinping went, there were always grand welcome ceremonies and friendly people with warm welcome. Cuba's leader Fidel Castro wrote a long article to its local media to welcome President Xi Jinping's visit, and President Raul Castro accompanied President Xi throughout his visit. Argentina's Congress specially decided to set up the title of Guest of Honor for the National Congress of Argentina and awarded it to President Xi Jinping, and Buenos Aires presented him with its city key. Venezuela and Cuba respectively awarded President Xi Jinping the Order of the Liberator and the Order of José Marti, which represented the highest honor in their countries.

Third, open up a new chapter of China-Latin America comprehensive cooperative partnership

Last year, President Xi Jinping paid his first visit to Latin America, which accelerated the development of China-Latin America relations. Then the establishment of China-Latin America overall cooperation mechanism centered on the China-CELAC Forum was going to work by itself.

During President Xi Jinping's visit to Brazil, the China-Latin America and the Caribbean Summit was held for the first time, which was put forward by China. President Xi Jinping and eleven leaders of the Latin American and Caribbean countries gathered together in a united and friendly atmosphere. President Xi Jinping and the leaders of other countries talked about friendship, discussed cooperation, sought common development, reached an agreement to establish the China-Latin America comprehensive cooperative partnership of equality, mutual benefits and common development, and jointly announced the establishment of the China-CELAC Forum, which opened up China-Latin America overall cooperation process and charted the course for the future development of China-Latin America relations. China-CELAC Forum, together with China-ASEAN Cooperation Mechanism, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, China-Africa Cooperation Forum, China-Arab Cooperation Forum, Summit of China-Central and Eastern European Countries, and China-Pacific Islands Forum Dialogue, is a symbol showing that the regional and multilateral cooperation framework, promoted by China and mainly targeted at developing countries, has achieved the global coverage and perfected China's diplomatic layout towards developing countries.

Xi Jinping expounded on China's policies and propositions towards Latin American countries under the new situation, put forward a Five-in-One new pattern of China-Latin America relations: sincerely trusting each other in politics, cooperating with each other for a win-win outcome in economy and trade, learning from each other in people-to-people and cultural exchanges, closely cooperating with each other in international affairs, and promoting each other in overall cooperation and bilateral relations, and proposed to build a new "1+3+6" cooperation framework. "1" means one plan - the "Chinese-Latin American and Caribbean Countries Cooperation Plan (2015-2019)". "3" refers to three major engines - trade, investment and financial cooperation. "6" means six major fields - energy and resources, infrastructure construction, agriculture, manufacturing, scientific and technological innovation and information technology. President Xi Jinping announced a series of initiatives and measures to promote the cooperation between China and Latin America, including the effort to achieve 500 billion USD China-Latin America trade scale and 250 billion USD investment stock in Latin America in ten years, officially implementing 20 billion USD special loans for Chinese-Latin American infrastructure, offering 10 billion USD concessional loans, comprehensively launching the China-Latin America Cooperation Fund with a commitment to invest 5 billion USD, providing Latin American countries 6,000 government scholarships and 6,000 training offers in China, and holding China-Latin America Cultural Exchange Year in 2016, and others.

President Xi Jinping does not forget old friends and meanwhile makes new friends. He talked with each leader attending the Summit and introduced China's concept on developing bilateral relations and promoting China-Latin America cooperation. Latin American leaders at the Summit applauded the initiatives and measures proposed by President Xi Jinping, unanimously believed that the Summit opens a new chapter for the relations between China and Latin American countries and also for South-South Cooperation, which is of great historical significance. They unanimously held that President Xi Jinping from afar demonstrates China's friendship with and respect for all Latin American countries, providing a strong sense of comfort and closeness in their contacts with China. China's help for Latin American countries is out of genuineness and sincerity, and the bilateral cooperation will produce mutual benefit and win-win results. Latin American countries are willing to work with China to well build the China-CELAC Forum and realize common development and prosperity.

During the visits, the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed; President Xi Jinping made a speech, delivered condolences to the victims, and stressed that a fair and objective investigation should be conducted into this incident. According to the directions from President Xi Jinping, the Chinese delegation conducted active and effective diplomatic mediation at the United Nations Security Council. As to the current upgrade of the Palestine-Israel conflict, President Xi Jinping appealed to ceasing fires and violence and resuming talks at an early date. China's Special Envoy on the Middle East Issue has been shuttling between Palestine and Israel, delivering China's voice of peace. All of these manifested China's image as a peace-loving and responsible major country and received wide recognition and appreciation from the international community.

At last, Wang Yi said that President Xi Jinping's visits to Latin American countries allows us to deeply perceive that in the era of world multipolarization and economic globalization, peace, development, cooperation and win-win results have been the common wish of all the peoples. Emerging markets and numerous developing countries including Latin American countries are seeking for national stability and development, exploring the approaches to reform, and looking for development paths suitable for their national conditions. Developing countries unite together for self-improvement and common development, and their aspiration of pushing for establishment of a more just and reasonable international political and economic order is unprecedentedly strong. China adheres to the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the direction of peaceful development, the opening strategy of mutual benefit and win-win results, mutual respect, non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, and right ideas of moral and interests in international exchanges. China actively maintains and promotes the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries, and is quite popular internationally, especially in developing countries. From China, developing countries see hope, get inspiration and find opportunities. They regard China as an all-round strategic partner and hope to learn from China for its successful experience and strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation with China. A new round of changes and adjustments in the international pattern, triggered by the development and growth of numerous emerging markets and developing countries, is also an important opportunity for China. We will study hard to grasp a series of important ideas and discourses by President Xi Jinping during his tour to Latin American countries, well implement the results of the visits and continue to promote all-round diplomacy so as to better serve domestic reform and development, and better promote peace, development and prosperity in the world.