Unlike the rise of other powers in history, China's rise has been peaceful and its political and economic strength augurs well for Asia and world, Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said Tuesday in Islamabad.

Addressing an international conference titled "China and The Emerging Asian Century," Aziz quoted Napoleon's remarks that "China is a sleeping giant. Let her lie and sleep, for when she awakens she will astonish the world" and said the giant is now fully awake and holds the world in awe and wonder.

Elaborating on the way how to see China's rise, Aziz stressed that people should see it in the civilizational context and that China's sense of history has imbibed in its values of peace, harmony and good neighborliness nurtured over centuries of collective wisdom.

China has an important role in regional and global context, its economic strength has helped and continues to help in promoting regional economic stability and its political strength is an assurance of stability in Asia, Aziz told the seminar, which was organized by Pakistan's well-known think tank, the Institute of Strategic Studies, in collaboration with Hanns Seidel Foundation.

Talking about China's view on security in Asia and beyond in the 21st century, Aziz quoted Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing as saying in an article published last month that "China's development can not materialize without the world. And a stable and a prosperous world also need China. So long as we hold high the banner of peace, development and cooperation and hold on to the path of peaceful development, we will surely make new contributions to world peace and development."

"This truly encapsulates China's world view in this century," Aziz affirmed.

Referring to the Pak-Sino relations, Aziz said Pakistan and China enjoy all weather friendship based on "complete trust and confidence" and that this friendship is rooted in the psyche and ethos of the two people.

Aziz said his country takes pride in the economic development and prosperity of China. "Chinese development model is unique and worthy of emulation for the developing countries. China's great economic transformation and its peaceful rise is as much a source of satisfaction as it is of strength for the people of Pakistan," Aziz added.

He expressed his view that the 21st century belongs to Asia and that the great transformation of Asia led by the spectacular economic changes in China, South East Asia and South Asia augurs well for the Asian continent and the world.

The two-day international seminar which ends Wednesday attracted about 200 people including diplomats in Islamabad and scholars coming from China, Russia, Germany, India, the United States and some other countries.

Source: Xinhua