ON the eve of the founding of New China five decades ago, the country faced a perilous environment, and half a century later, relations with major powers have improved remarkably and ties with neighboring states and other developing countries have seen progress.

As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, China has been playing an increasingly important role in the international arena.

On October 1, 1949, Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China, ending a hundred years of humiliation, and China now has diplomatic relations with more than 160 countries and engages in economic, trade, scientific, technological, and cultural cooperation with more than 220 countries and regions.

In the past five decades China has overcome difficult international problems one by one in part thanks to its flexible and practical strategies.

Independence -- Standpoint of China's Diplomacy

Independence is the basic principle of China's foreign policy. On the eve of the founding of the new China, Mao Zedong established the foreign policy of the new socialist China by first severing all links with the old China's foreign policy, or "thoroughly cleaning house", as he put it.