China more active in int'l affairs

BEIJING, March 9 (Xinhua) -- To actively participate in international affairs and contribute to the building of the international system will be a priority of the diplomatic strategy of China's new leadership, one top diplomat said here Saturday.

Chinese leaders will become actively engaged in summits and top leadership diplomacy to further enhance China's international image and raise its international influence, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said at a press conference on the sidelines of the first session of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC).

China's new president, to be elected at the NPC session, is expected to make a debut on the international stage, with invited visits to Russia, Tanzania, South Africa and the Republic of Congo.

China and neighboring Russia, Yang said, see each other as a significant opportunity for development and a priority partner for cooperation.

The new president will also attend the fifth leaders' summit of BRICS countries, to be held from March 26 to 27 in Durban, South Africa.

BRICS is an economic bloc representing five of the world's leading emerging economies, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa which represent about 43 percent of the world's population and about one fifth of the global gross domestic product.

RELATIONSHIP WITH U.S., EU

The relations between China and the United States, the world's top two economies, generally maintained a momentum of steady development in recent years due to joint efforts from both countries.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and U.S. President Barack Obama had successful exchange of visits and met 12 times. Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, exchanged letters with Obama after he was reelected to U.S. president.

"Leaders of the two countries reached agreement that China and the United States should work together to build a cooperative partnership based on mutual respects and mutual benefits and explore the establishment of a new type of relations between major countries," Yang said.