China is a responsible country and its development benefits the whole world as China needs a harmonious world to make friends with all countries, a top Chinese legislator said here on Sunday night.

Cheng Siwei, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, made a speech Sunday night on the economic development of China at Egypt's International Economic Forum.

Cheng told the delegates that "Five to 10 years ago, some people talked about China's collapse because they didn't believe China could sustain its development, three to five years ago, some people talked about "China threat" because they were fearful of China's development, today people are talking about China's responsibility."

A harmonious world can be achieved if China and other countries try to seek common ground while shelving differences, Cheng added.

On China's economic development, Cheng noted that China's economy is moving smoothly toward socialist market system and the average annual growth rate is around 9 percent, saying that China's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reached 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars in 2006 and China's foreign trade volume rose to 1.76 trillion dollars.

Chinese citizen's income is increasing at a higher speed, he continued.

Cheng, however, also said that China is a big country where imbalanced development exists in various regions, such as the gap between the coastal region and the western region in China, the urban areas and the rural areas, as well as the rich and the poor.

But the Chinese government is taking measures to solve these problems, including tax measures and promoting charity business among others, according to Cheng's speech.

Following the speech, he answered questions raised by the representatives about globalization, China's social security system, non-performing loans in financial institutes, market regulating rules and energy problems, etc.

Wrapping his trip to the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Cheng was invited to deliver the speech at Egypt's International Economic Forum with about one hundred participants including Chinese ambassador to Egypt Wu Sike as well as international economic experts.

The Forum is a nongovernment, nonprofit organization with a vision towards "Egypt's Economic Development" established in 1998 to focus on integrating Egypt into the global economy on a competitive basis.

Source: Xinhua