Chinese President Xi Jinping has returned from his four-nation trip around south and central Asia on Friday that sets a new tone on China's diplomacy toward its neighbors.

President Xi's state visits to Tajikistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka and India mark a new chapter in Chinese neighborhood diplomacy, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi told reporters.

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It has also forged mutually beneficial ties that bolstered the president's economic connectivity initiative called the "One Belt and One Road."

Under the "One Belt and One Road" policy, China seeks to expand the network of railroads and highways that it has been building across its southwestern and western regions of its neighbor countries.

Under this policy also include the building of the economic belt emulating the historic Silk Road that connected China to the countries in the region.

According to Wang, the 9-day tour aimed at bringing together the common interests of the five countries with the "One Belt and One Road."

In his visit to Tajikistan last week, President Xi and President Emomali Rahmon signed a five-year strategic partnership plan that lay outs the blueprint of future relations between the countries.

President Xi also attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tajikistan's capital where China proposed initiatives for combating what Xi called the three forces of evil-religious extremism, terrorism and separatism.

With China, SCO composes of four other central Asian countries: Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan.

In his visits in Maldives and Sri Lanka, the president successfully courted cooperation for the building of the Maritime Silk Road (MSR) which establishes both island countries as China's major trade routes in the region.

China signed deals amounting to US$13 billion with Sri Lankan leaders for the building of the mega port in Colombo City as part of the bid to turn the island into a global port rivalling those of Singapore and Dubai.

Maldivian president Abdulla Yameen was also supportive of China's MSR initiative.

Xi wraps up his visit in Maldives with a signed agreement to build the "China Bridge" which will connect its capital, Male, with the country's international airport.

Amid bitter border disputes, Xi proposed initiatives that will create economic synergies between the 'world's back office' and the 'world's factory'. With the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Xi signed a five-year development plan amounting to US$20 billion during his maiden visit, Bloomberg reported.

TagsChina relations, China-India relations, China-Maldives, China-Sri Lanka relations, China-Tajikistan relations, One Belt and One Road initiative