British Foreign Secretary Margret Beckett called on China to exert more influence in dealing with global problems.

Calling China "a strategic partner", Beckett spoke highly of its recent economic achievements, which has lifted some 500 million out of poverty.

"We are both stakeholders in a harmonious international system which effectively manages the risks of globalisation," Beckett told an audience of some 100 officials at the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China (CPC) here on Thursday.

"In a globalising world of interdependent states, the success of China is good for the world, and its failure would harm us all, " she said.

Beckett praised China's "increasingly active and positive" role in the six-party talks on Korean Peninsula, as well as in the Middle East and Iran nuclear issue, expecting more influence from China on African affairs.

"China could do more to take credit for its actions on the international stage: be loud and proud about what you are doing, "she said.

When talking about the low-carbon and energy efficient economy, Beckett called China "already a pioneer in building a new economic mode", as it has set ambitious target of increasing energy efficiency by 20 percent and reducing pollutants by 10 percent by 2010 "without outside pressure".

But she also mentioned the necessity and urgency of tackling the threats brought by climate change. "It's a problem for everybody and will affect everybody. No one nation and no one group of nations can solve the problem,"

She said Britain will push forward the transfer of low-carbon technology from developed countries to developing countries, which is mutual-beneficial for both the transferor and the recipient.

Beckett was here Wednesday for a six-day official visit to China, her first ever visit after taking office of Foreign Secretary in May 2006.

She is expected to talk with her Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi and other senior Chinese officials Friday before heading for south China's Guangdong Province and Hong Kong.

Source: Xinhua