This year marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations (UN). Over the past 60 years, the world has experienced many events, and the United Nations has gone through these eventful years. Sixty years ago, the United Nations was founded for the defense and promotion of world peace and development.; today, the world is still faced with the tasks of peace and development.

Over the past six decades, under the impetus of the UN and with the common efforts of the peace forces of various countries around the world, a new world war has been avoided from breaking out, and generally the socio-economic development of various countries has been promoted.

In September 2000, the UN Millennium Summit Meeting set down the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to fight against poverty, diseases and environmental pollution, and tackle other development-related problems.

Although the international situation in the new century is experiencing profound changes and new security threats are posing new challenges to us, strengthening the UN role in safeguarding world peace and development remains the consensus of the overwhelming majority countries in the world.

China is a founding member of the United Nations as well as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. China has suffered a great deal from the scourge of world wars and has made tremendous contribution to the victory of the World Anti-fascist War.

As a responsible permanent UN Security Council member and a large developing country with a population of 1.3 billion, China has become an important force in stabilizing world peace.

China has been consistently devoted to safeguarding the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and supporting the United Nations in playing its important part in international affairs. China has been actively promoting the solution of regional conflicts within the framework of the UN and the defense of world peace. China supports the UN in exerting still greater role in the field of development and has proposed that the United Nations earnestly push forward the issue of development through increased input for development.

China has also made its contribution to the safeguard of world peace through its own actual deeds. Since 1989, China has sent out a total of 3,000 persons/times, including military personnel, policemen and civil officials to take part in 14 UN peacekeeping operations.

China has consistently adhered to the road of peaceful development. Since the introduction of the reform and opening up policy in the late 1970s, China has set down the international strategy for peaceful development and has, in the process of leapfrog development in economic globalization, unswervingly chosen the mode of peaceful development.

From a short-term point of view, under the mode of peaceful development, due to the established order and the restriction of resources, this may probably retard the progress of the development of big powers. But from the long-term point of view, due to the fact that peaceful development has fundamentally avoided war and catastrophe, it is more favorable to the rapid development of big powers. This point has been fully proved by Chinese history of reform and opening up over the past two decades and more.

At the same time, China's fast development has made enormous contribution to global advancement. According to estimate made by an authoritative international organization, over the past 10 years or so, the rate of Chinese contribution to global economic growth has reached as high as 16 percent, ranking it second next only to the United States.

In following the road of peaceful development, China also needs a stable and peaceful international environment. China opposes the use or threat of force by any country and any force in international relations and world affairs, and it has consistently advocated peaceful solutions of international disputes through negotiations and dialogs and other political and diplomatic means, thus crating a favorable, stabilized environment for peaceful development worldwide.

At the same time, China opposes the spread and exaggeration of the "China threat theory" by any country and any force with Cold War mentality. China sincerely hopes that the international community can grant China more understanding, concern and support for its peaceful development. China's peaceful development is an important component part of world peace and development, support to China's peaceful development means support to the world's peaceful development.

This article by Zhou Xiaojing, deputy director and research fellow with the Asia-Africa Development Research Institute of the Development Research Center under the State Council, is carried on the front page of People's Daily Overseas Edition, September 15, and is translated by People's Daily Online