Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (
Wen made the comments at a meeting in Islamabad of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue, a forum aimed at promoting economic cooperation in Asia.
Wen called for peace in Asia and urged more cooperation in energy, environmental protection and financial dialogue, and for free trade agreements among Asian nations.
"Asia needs peace. Peace is the precondition for well-being and prosperity ... a truly Asian century will never materialize unless Asia develops as a whole," Wen said at a meeting of foreign ministers and senior government officials from Asian and Middle Eastern nations.
Wen told other nations that they need not worry about an increasingly powerful and developed China.
He said Beijing will "concentrate on addressing domestic concerns" and will protect the interests of developing nations "with no political conditions attached."
"Some people are worried that a stronger and more developed China would pose a threat to other countries. Such worry is completely misplaced ... even if we become stronger and more developed, we will not stand in the way of others, still less become a threat to others. China will never seek hegemony," Wen said.
The Asia Cooperation Dialogue was formed in 2002 at the initiative of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and includes Japan, China, South Korea, India, Pakistan, other Asian states and several Gulf countries.
Speaking at the opening of the meeting, Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said Asian nations should come together to utilize their potential to achieve peace and prosperity.
Aziz called for promotion of investment and joint business ventures among members of the forum, and regular meetings among finance ministers and central bank chiefs.
On Tuesday, Wen and Aziz signed a treaty of friendship and cooperation with Pakistan, promising to lend Beijing's support to help Islamabad resolve outstanding disputes with India.
At the meeting with Aziz in Islamabad, Wen also lent Beijing's "full support" in helping resolve issues with India -- including efforts to settle the a decades-long dispute over the divided region of Kashmir, said Salman Bashir, Pakistani ambassador to China
On Tuesday, China and Pakistan in the presence of Wen and Aziz signed 22 agreements to enhance cooperation in areas including defense and trade.
Bashir said the most important aspect of the talks between Aziz and Wen was the "clear, unambiguous, categorical assurance by China to defend Pakistan's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity."
Aziz said China will help Pakistan build its third nuclear power plant, and a groundbreaking ceremony for it will be held tomorrow.
Nauru has started selling passports to fund climate action, but is so far struggling to attract new citizens to the low-lying, largely barren island in the Pacific Ocean. Nauru, one of the world’s smallest nations, has a novel plan to fund its fight against climate change by selling so-called “Golden Passports.” Selling for US$105,000 each, Nauru plans to drum up more than US$5 million in the first year of the “climate resilience citizenship” program. Almost six months after the scheme opened in February, Nauru has so far approved just six applications — covering two families and four individuals. Despite the slow start —
‘THEY KILLED HOPE’: Four presidential candidates were killed in the 1980s and 1990s, and Miguel Uribe’s mother died during a police raid to free her from Pablo Escobar Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe has died two months after being shot at a campaign rally, his family said on Monday, as the attack rekindled fears of a return to the nation’s violent past. The 39-year-old conservative senator, a grandson of former Colombian president Julio Cesar Turbay (1978-1982), was shot in the head and leg on June 7 at a rally in the capital, Bogota, by a suspected 15-year-old hitman. Despite signs of progress in the past few weeks, his doctors on Saturday announced he had a new brain hemorrhage. “To break up a family is the most horrific act of violence that
North Korean troops have started removing propaganda loudspeakers used to blare unsettling noises along the border, South Korea’s military said on Saturday, days after Seoul’s new administration dismantled ones on its side of the frontier. The two countries had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, who is seeking to ease tensions with Pyongyang. The South Korean Ministry of National Defense on Monday last week said it had begun removing loudspeakers from its side of the border as “a practical measure aimed at helping ease
DEADLY TASTE TEST: Erin Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband three times, police said in one of the major claims not heard during her initial trial Australia’s recently convicted mushroom murderer also tried to poison her husband with bolognese pasta and chicken korma curry, according to testimony aired yesterday after a suppression order lapsed. Home cook Erin Patterson was found guilty last month of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt in 2023, lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson’s behavior in the lead-up to the meal were withheld from the jury to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale yesterday rejected an application to keep these allegations secret. Patterson tried to kill her
RSS