Xi's letters act as keystone of diplomacy

Correspondence with foreign friends helping build public support for ties

Editor's note: Head-of-state diplomacy leads the way in which China pursues peaceful development and advances the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. China Daily presents a series of stories about interactions between China and the rest of the world, recollecting the country's diplomatic endeavors led by President Xi Jinping over the year.

In the living room of Alifa Chin's house in the Bangladeshi port city of Chittagong, one cannot miss the brand-new decorative frames hanging above a wooden sofa that display in three languages a reply letter she received from President Xi Jinping.

The 13-year-old girl was born with the help of Chinese doctors and nurses when the Chinese navy's hospital ship, Peace Ark, dropped anchor in Chittagong in 2010 to provide locals free medical aid for a week. She was named "Chin", Bengali for China, in a show of gratitude and to mark her special bond forged at birth with the country.