China “unswervingly pursues” peaceful development, experts say

BEIJING - Facing concerns by some western countries about China’s ongoing development, which they think is “a threat,” Chinese experts have again said that the country, in fact, will always pursue a path of peaceful development.

“China’s development depends on world peace and it will contribute to world peace,” Xinhua quoted Shi Yongming, a research fellow at the Department for International Strategic Studies of the China Institute of International Studies, a key government think tank, as saying.

Shi’s words echoed Premier Wen Jiabao’s explanation on the essence of China’s peaceful development during a speech delivered to world leaders and delegates to the annual general session of the UN General Assembly in September.

Wen said China would stay firmly committed to peaceful development, whose essence was “to foster a peaceful international environment for our development and, at the same time, contribute to world peace through our development.”

Shi said that to foster a peaceful international environment, China had always given priority to “mutually-beneficial cooperation,” which is considered an effective way to tackle disputes in international relations.

He said the fruitful cooperation helped China “gain a peaceful external environment” so that it could focus on its domestic development. (ANI)