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," said Shi Yongming, a research fellow at the Department for International Strategic Studies of the China Institute of International Studies, a key government think tank.

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.

The country's economy saw an annual growth of 11.4 percent on average during the first four years of the 11th Five-year Program (2006-2010). Additionally, the first half of this year saw an 11.1 percent growth, outshining the pace of developed nations.

President Hu Jintao recently reiterated China's adherence to the path of peaceful development in a written interview with France's Le Figaro newspaper and Portugal's Lusa News Agency on the eve of his visit to the two countries.

"China respects the right of the people of other countries to choose their own path of development," Hu said. "China will never interfere in other countries' internal affairs, never impose its own will on others, and is dedicated to peaceful settlements of international conflicts."

Hu said China, with its defensive national defense policy, would never seek hegemony and would never pursue expansion, and China's development was "an important part of the development process of human society."

According to the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee's Proposal for Formulating the 12th Five-Year Program for China's Economic and Social Development (2011-2015), which was adopted at the Fifth Plenum of the 17th CPC Central Committee last month, the country's stance on peaceful development was repeated.

The document, which would shape China's development over the next five years, noted, "China will...adhere to an independent foreign policy of peace, sticking to the path of peaceful development..."

The country also issued a white paper entitled, "China's Peaceful Development Road," in 2005, which, for the first time, elaborated its firm resolution to abide by maintaining peaceful foreign relations. In the same year, China reiterated this commitment in its 11th Five-Year Program.

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