ON September 6, the Information Office of the State Council, China's cabinet, released a white paper on China's peaceful development, elaborating on the motivations, policies and goals behind the strategy.

China has declared to the rest of the world on many occasions that it takes a path of peaceful development and is committed to upholding world peace and promoting common development and prosperity for all countries. At the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century and on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC), China declared solemnly again to the world that peaceful development is a strategic choice made by China to realize modernization, make itself strong and prosperous, and make more contribution to the progress of human civilization. China will unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development.

In the mid-19th century, Western powers forced open China's door with gunboats. Internal turmoil and foreign aggression gradually turned China into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. Living up to the people's expectation, the CPC led them in carrying out arduous struggle, and finally founded the People's Republic of China in 1949. This marked the realization of China's independence and liberation of its people and ushered in a new epoch in China's history.

In the past six decades and particularly since the introduction of the reform and opening-up policies in 1978, the Chinese government has worked hard to explore a path of socialist modernization that conforms to China's conditions and the trend of the times. Overcoming difficulties and setbacks, the Chinese people have advanced with the times, drawn on both experience and lessons from the development of China itself and other countries, and found the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Viewed in the broader, global and historical context, the path of peaceful development may be defined as follows: China should develop itself through upholding world peace and contribute to world peace through its own development. It should achieve development with its own efforts and by carrying out reform and innovation; at the same time, it should open itself to the outside and learn from other countries. It should seek mutual benefit and common development with other countries in keeping with the trend of economic globalization, and it should work together with other countries to build a harmonious world of durable peace and common prosperity. This is a path of scientific, independent, open, peaceful, cooperative and common development.

China loves peace. From their bitter sufferings from war and poverty in modern times, the Chinese people have learned the value of peace and the pressing need of development. They see that only peace can allow them to live and work in prosperity and contentment and that only development can bring them decent living. Therefore, the central goal of China's diplomacy is to create a peaceful and stable international environment for its development. In the meantime, China strives to make its due contribution to world peace and development. It never engages in aggression or expansion, never seeks hegemony, and remains a staunch force for upholding regional and world peace and stability.

Thanks to its pursuit of peaceful development, China has undergone profound changes. It has made remarkable achievements in development, made major contribution to world prosperity and stability, and is more integrated with the rest of the world.

China has transformed itself from a closed or semi-closed state to one featuring all-round opening-up. China has taken an active part in economic globalization and regional economic cooperation, and its opening-up has steadily deepened. The country's total import and export volume grew from US $20.6 billion-worth in 1978 to US $2.974 trillion-worth in 2010. Utilized foreign direct investment from 1979 to 2010 totaled US $1.04838 trillion. It maintains business and trade ties with 163 countries and regions. China is becoming increasingly interdependent with other countries.

China has made important contribution to the stable development of the world economy. Since its entry into the WTO in 2001, China has imported goods worth nearly US $750 billion every year, and created over 14 million jobs for those exporting countries and regions. Since the international financial crisis erupted in 2008, China has taken an active part in the G20's efforts to build a global economic governance mechanism, promoted the reform of the international financial system, got involved in multi-country macroeconomic policy coordination, and participated in international trade financing schemes and financial cooperation. China conscientiously meets the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations, and is the only country in the world that has halved the number of people living in poverty ahead of schedule. In addition, China provides assistance to other countries and regions as its capacity permits.

China plays an important role in safeguarding world peace and meeting global challenges. It is the only nuclear-weapon country that has publicly stated that it will not be the first to use nuclear weapons, or use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states or nuclear-weapon-free zones. It has dispatched about 21,000 personnel on 30 UN peacekeeping missions, which is the highest number among the permanent members of the UN Security Council. China takes an active part in international cooperation in anti-terrorism and nonproliferation. It provides humanitarian aid and dispatches rescue teams to countries hit by severe natural disasters and deploys naval escort fleets to combat piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia. China is the first developing country to formulate and implement the National Climate Change Program.