Chinese President Hu Jintao said in a New Year's Eve address on Dec. 31 that China would adhere to the path of peaceful development and would always seek to cooperate when facing global problems.
Hu's annual address broadcast by state television appeared to be targeted at rising concern around the world over China's growing political and military clout which has been fueled by 30 years of fast-paced economic growth.
"I would like to reiterate, China will continue to hold high the standard of peace, development and cooperation," Hu said. "We will forever walk the road of peaceful development and forever follow a win-win strategy of mutual development."
In the coming year, China will adopt a proactive fiscal policy and a prudent monetary policy aimed at relatively fast and healthy economic growth and the improvement of the livelihoods of its people, he said.
"The world economic recovery is still difficult and full of ups and downs. Climate change, energy and resource security, food security, public sanitation security are all prominent problems facing the world," Hu said.
"Strengthening global cooperation and joining hands to address the serious challenges facing humanity is in the common interests of the people of every nation."
China's dramatic global rise has fuelled global concerns that its new found political, economic and military clout will result in a belligerent nation seeking to secure more world resources to fuel the appetite of its 1.3 billion people.
Beijing has long sought to dispel such notions, insisting that China's rise among the powerful nations of the world will always be peaceful.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010
