Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has actively advanced its peripheral diplomacy by adhering to the principles of "treating neighbors with friendship and partnering with them", upholding "good-neighborliness, securing neighbors, and enriching neighbors", and highlighting the philosophy of "amity, sincerity, mutual benefit, and inclusiveness". In the new era, China′s proposal of the "Global Development Initiative （GDI）" and "Global Security Initiative （GSI）" has endowed China′s peripheral diplomacy with the critical connotation of balancing "security" and "development". This paper argues that the main pathways of China′s peripheral diplomacy include the expression of goodwill signals, institutional creation, and economic reciprocity. Meanwhile, the fundamental connotations consist of China′s own economic growth, its response to the challenges posed by the U. S. Indo-Pacific strategy, and its efforts to address the diverse security and development demands of Southeast Asian countries.