BEIJING, Dec. 28  -- When Napoleon Bonaparte called China a "sleeping lion" two centuries ago, the legendary conqueror feared that when the lion wakes, "she will shake the world."

The late Emperor of France was partly right in his prophesy since China has awakened, as declared by President Xi Jinping in his April trip to Europe, but he was wrong in his fear.

With a population of 1.3 billion and an economy ranked 2nd in the world, now almost every step of China has a global impact. But rather than shaking the world, the awakened lion is embracing the world and contributing to global peace and prosperity with its rising capacity.

An evident sign of the Asian giant's growing engagement with the world is the frequent overseas visits by top Chinese leaders, as this year witnessed a busy diplomatic schedule packed with seven overseas tours by Xi and five by Premier Li Keqiang.

In fact, the two leaders have altogether traveled abroad for 19 times and set foot on more than 50 countries across five continents since they came into office in March 2013.

The extensive global outreach was featured with a strong political will to upgrade ties, lucrative deals to expand trade, touching moments of people-to-people contacts, and more importantly, China's determination to engage with the world.

By rolling out new concepts such as "the Chinese dream" and "the community of common destiny," China is forging a new diplomatic philosophy; by taking new initiatives like "new type of major-country relationship" and the "One Belt and One Road," China is trying to help shape a new world where everybody is a winner.

Aiming for building a new model of ties with other major countries, especially the United States, China is trying to break the historic pattern of zero-sum game between rising powers and established ones, which often brought disasters to humanity.

By putting forward the "One Belt and One Road" blueprint, China is offering its mass construction capability and foreign reserves for common prosperity with countries that are on similar development stages.

As a matter of fact, Beijing is playing a more active global role and having a bigger say in international affairs, but that doesn't mean it will lead to an East-West power struggle, as peace and development will remain the cornerstone of China's new diplomatic posture.

As a responsible player, China is promoting a right approach to the balance of benefit and justice in international relations, and always puts righteousness before individual interests for a better world.

Just as Xi said, the awakened China lion is a "peaceful, pleasant and civilized" creature, which has no intention and will never be a threat to anybody.