No mountain or ocean can distance people who have shared aspirations, an ancient Chinese saying that traces back more than 1,600 years, has resurfaced recently in an official cultural reading of China's approach to great power diplomacy. The phrase suggests that people who share the same goals will not be kept apart, however far the mountains or seas between them. In today's increasingly connected world, officials argue, the message still resonates.
Diplomacy told through classical language
Drawing on classical poetry and idioms to describe relations between states is a longstanding habit in China's diplomatic discourse. From speeches delivered on state visits to official media commentary on major diplomatic events, phrases about being kind to neighbors and living in harmony with all nations, or about friendship between states resting on the affinity of their peoples, are regularly invoked to give bilateral or multilateral relationships a layer of historical and cultural grounding. Proponents say the approach turns abstract diplomatic principles into language ordinary people can more easily grasp and remember, while underscoring what officials describe as a longstanding Chinese tradition of valuing good neighborliness and cooperation for mutual benefit.
A cultural narrative echoing real diplomacy
The renewed circulation of the saying comes as President Xi Jinping is in the middle of a run of diplomatic activity in the Middle East, including a state visit to Egypt and a proposal on regional security issues. Observers say pairing such diplomatic moves with references to traditional culture is a familiar technique in official messaging, both echoing concrete diplomatic outcomes and serving as a way of projecting China's stated approach to foreign relations abroad. How far that cultural framing ultimately shapes international perceptions remains to be seen.
