China Perspective

'No intention to dominate'

By Wu Jiao and Zhang Yuwei (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-25 07:54

China will continue on its path of peaceful development, says Wen

UNITED NATIONS - Despite its increasing economic power, China will not seek to dominate other nations and hopes only to continue along its path of peaceful development, Premier Wen Jiabao said on Thursday.

Premier Wen Jiabao delivers his speech during the general debate of the 65th session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday. Richard Drew / The Associated Press

During the general debate of the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Wen took the opportunity to talk about what he described as the real China.

His remarks came at a time when some overseas critics have questioned whether a fast-developing China, with an economy that has now overtaken Japan's, will exploit its strength and seek to control other nations.

The suspicions have been intensified recently following China's firm responses to recent international disputes.

Some countries have also been urging China to take a stronger international role and shoulder more responsibility in world affairs, a demand that China has said it finds hard to fulfill at the moment.

Wen took the opportunity to address the issues and told the assembly that, despite its growing economic clout, the per capita GDP of China is still only one tenth of that of a developed nation.

He said regional imbalance, a population that includes 150 million impoverished people and a low-end manufacturing industry coupled with inadequate social democracy all show that China is still a developing country.

China's success in its fight against poverty in the past 25 years is "undeniable", according to Ajay Chhibber, assistant secretary-general and director of the UN Development Program's Regional Bureau for Asia and Pacific. But Chhibber warned in a recent interview with China Daily that income inequality, which has been on the rise since the mid-1980s in China, will need to be tackled.

"China will need to address this problem if it is to maintain its past rate of progress against poverty," he said, adding that China is correctly focusing on social protection in an attempt to ensure that those left behind are getting the support they need.

Sarah Cook, director of the UN Research Institute for Social Development, said China's social assistance programs have improved in recent years.

"These benefits (from the programs) have become an entitlement for people, and everyone whose income falls below a certain level can gain access to them," said Cook, who lived in China for many years. She said the improved system is part of the process of building consciousness and awareness about people's rights and their ability to demand things from the government.

In his speech, Wen proclaimed that, for a long time, China will focus on developing its domestic economy, which should serve as the foundation for solving other problems in the country.

He said China will continue to expand its reform and opening up, which has been crucial to the achievements made so far. Yet China's development will bring no threat and harm to other countries and China will not seek hegemony despite its strength, Wen added.

Commenting on Wen's speech, Jamie Metzl, executive vice-president of the Asia Society, said although China sees itself as a developing country, the world does not see it that way. But he said China "can and must do better" to be "part of the solution to global challenges".

Metzl, also an expert on Southeast Asian history and politics, told China Daily: "Because of China's global importance, it needs to be part of the solution to global challenges When China doesn't play this role, for whatever domestic reason, it deeply undermines the functioning of the global 'system'."

Wen also said China will continue on its path of peaceful development to gain a peaceful global environment for its development. But the country will not concede nor compromise on issues related to its core interests.

With its economic and poverty-reduction achievements during the past decade, China has helped other developing countries and least developed countries in many areas.

China Daily