Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, delivers a speech in Kuala Lumpur on May 30, 2005.

China has been and will always be committed to developing friendly relations and cooperation with other Asian countries so as to jointly promote common development, visiting top Chinese legislator Wu Bangguo said Monday.

"Being a member of the big Asian family, a participant in and contributor to Asian peace, development and cooperation, China is well aware of its important responsibility to Asia's peace and development," Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China, said in a speech in Kuala Lumpur.

"China cannot develop in isolation of Asia and vice versa," said Wu, who arrived in Penang, northern Malaysia on Saturday for a four-day official goodwill visit to the Southeast Asian country, the last leg of his four-nation tour which also includes Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

"We have always followed the guideline of building good- neighborly relationships and partnerships with surrounding countries and the policy of bringing harmony, security and prosperity to our neighbors," Wu said. He made the speech at the invitation of Malaysia's Foreign Ministry.

"We will, as always, commit ourselves to friendly relations and cooperation with other Asian countries so as to jointly build a peaceful and tranquil regional environment and promote the common development of Asian countries," Wu said.

After extolling Asia's ancient civilizations and the Asian people's protracted and arduous struggle for liberation, peace and development, Wu said that with the deepening of economic globalization, Asian countries are faced with both rare opportunities and serious challenges.

The remarkable advancement in science and technology, optimization and restructuring of production factors and the quickened tempo in industrial transfer have all provided Asian countries with favorable conditions for making full use of international capital, technology and market so as to boost domestic economic development, he said.

However, in the mean time, economic globalization has also made worldwide economic and scientific and technological competition fiercer. New trade barriers keep cropping up and the gap between North and South is further widening, putting some Asian countries in tough situations, he said.

The Asian countries should seize the opportunities, face up to the challenges and strengthen their cooperation to pursue common development, he said.

"We should firmly take development as the top priority, concentrate our efforts on domestic affairs and promote Asia's common prosperity while achieving self-development. We should move forward the bilateral and multilateral cooperation of equality and mutual benefit on all fronts, strive to forge a development landscape whereby we shall complement each other with respective advantages and make progress with joint efforts and move economic globalization in a balanced and win-win direction bringing universal benefits," Wu said.

"We need to establish a solid concept of a Big Asian Family, in which we shall respect each other, conduct friendly consultations and properly handle the various disputes and conflicts in a joint effort to maintain and promote peace and stability in Asia," he added.

In recent years, Asian countries have overcome the impact of the financial crisis, won the battle against SARS and avian flu, and walked out of the shadow of the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami disaster, Wu said.

They have beefed up their capacity in fending off risks, achieved positive results in economic restructuring, quickened the pace of industrial upgrading and sustained fairly rapid economic growth, he said.

The economic growth rates of Asian developing countries surpassed 7 percent in 2004 and are expected to stay above 6 percent between 2005 and 2007. Currently, Asia takes up a fourth of the world's economic aggregate, a third of the total trade volume and two-thirds of the foreign exchange reserves.

"China stands ready to join hands with all other Asian countries, Malaysia included, to deepen our good-neighborly friendship and make concerted efforts for a harmonious and prosperous Asia and for our continent's great rejuvenation," Wu said.

Source: Xinhua