Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent visit to the Middle East has put final touches on the country's new diplomatic push and is leading the world's second largest economy back to the world's central stage.
The brief tour to the three nations -- Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran -- brought to a close a globetrotting Year of the Sheep which saw the President travel to 17 countries in less than 12 months.
The number takes the total to over 40 in 34 months.
Pressing flesh and brokering deals, Xi's diplomacy has brought China closer neighbors and distant friends alike, setting a new global agenda for peace, progress, prosperity and stability.
BREAKING FREE FROM THE PITFALL
Since taking office in 2013, Xi has spent 138 days overseas, trekking nearly 400 thousand kilometers across the world.
He has carried with him a vision of a new model of international relationship and put China firmly in the vanguard of the fight against climate change.
Some amiss took Xi's words and deeds for a shift from the long-standing policy of "keeping a low profile" put forward by late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, and spoke of the Thucydides Trap, an academic theory that sees a risk of rivalry between a rising and an established power turning to conflict.
But they have underestimated China's determination to seek peaceful development and win-win cooperation, and to break from past pitfalls of confrontation.
Sino-Russian relations are in the best time of history. In March 2013, just days after he assumed office, Xi paid his first state visit to Russia, the first of many meetings between himself and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Xi then attended the opening ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympic Games in 2014 and the 2015 Victory Day parade in Moscow's Red Square, while Putin joined a host of foreign dignitaries at Beijing's own victory parade last year.
So far, the two leaders have met on more than ten occasions, reflecting the high level of bilateral relations officially defined as comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.
