A survey team from the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee visited Southwest China's Yunnan province from July 1 to 5 to learn about the coordination and promotion of people-to-people diplomacy. 

The team journeyed by train on the China-Laos Railway route to get a better idea of the improvements in regional connectivity achieved through high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. The team also visited a number of Sino-Lao and Sino-Vietnamese ports and friendship villages in Pu'er city and Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture to learn about the developments and emerging opportunities in carrying out people-to-people exchanges and diplomacy in border areas. At a symposium held during the survey, the team learned about the new measures taken by local authorities and the difficulties they face in facilitating people-to-people diplomacy. 

The team acknowledged that Yunnan has successfully leveraged its geographical advantages, and improved institutional mechanisms to mobilize resources and enthusiasm from local institutions such as the CPPCC provincial committee, and the departments of foreign affairs, commerce, culture and tourism, as well as friendship associations, to enhance friendly relations with provinces, cities and villages in neighboring countries through various people-to-people exchange activities. Yunnan has fostered a new pattern of people-to-people diplomacy, and practiced the peripheral diplomacy concept featuring amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness, the team added.  

People-to-people diplomacy has unlimited potential, said the team members. They urged the use of the country's systems and mechanisms to widely mobilize the resources and enthusiasm for people-to-people diplomacy, and win public support by promoting Belt and Road cooperation, in order to create a China-friendly neighborhood and an international environment for advancing the Chinese modernization and building a community with a shared future for humanity.