Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a New Year speech to extend New Year greetings to all Chinese, and best wishes to friends all over the world, in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 31, 2017. (Xinhua)

BEIJING, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping, in his annual New Year address delivered to the nation on Sunday, demonstrated China's role as a responsible major country in international affairs.

"China will resolutely uphold the authority and status of the United Nations, actively fulfill China's international obligations and duties, remain firmly committed to China's pledges to tackle climate change, actively push for the Belt and Road Initiative, and always be a builder of world peace, contributor of global development and keeper of international order," Xi said.

Once again, the remarks sent out a strong message of the times concerning the future of mankind. It is not hard to tell that China, while pursuing its own development, also attaches great importance to the development of the international community.

Currently, the international situation is undergoing profound and complex changes, and the world has reached a critical juncture. While peace and development remain the theme of the time, the world is faced with multiple challenges including the rise of anti-globalization, terrorism, unilateralism and xenophobia.

It is an era of expectation with anxiety.

In an uneasy world, China has offered its wisdom to address global challenges, providing the world with global public goods such as the Belt and Road Initiative, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Silk Road Fund.

Proposed by Xi in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative aims to build trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia with Europe and Africa on and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes. It comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which is originally composed of one route spanning westward from China to Europe, and the other extending from the country's eastern coastline down to the Indian Ocean.

These efforts of China which aim to build new platforms for international cooperation have boosted regional interconnectivity and stability, and have created new driving forces for global growth.

Also, China has been working to curb global warming, actively participating in peacekeeping operations, and making efforts to seek peaceful solutions to regional conflicts.

"The Chinese people are ready to chart out a more prosperous, peaceful future for humanity, with people from other countries," Xi said.

As a contributor to world peace and a driving force for global development, China is committed to improving global governance and creating more opportunities for developing countries on the world stage.

In this regard, China has proposed building a community with a shared future for mankind featuring mutual respect, diversity and dialogue based on equality and peaceful co-existence among different civilizations.

Over the past few years, the vision has been well received by more and more countries worldwide and has been transformed from an idea into an action.

The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, held in Beijing in October 2017, set building a community with a shared future for mankind and building a new type of international relations as an overall goal of China's diplomacy.

The year of 2018 is the first year for implementing the goal. With detailed plans for development and international cooperation, China will surely create more opportunities that can benefit countries worldwide and make greater contributions to world peace and development.