The premier's remarks, made after the final session of the National People's Congress, is part of the Chinese government's attempt to downplay mounting concerns expressed in Washington and other capitals that China's rise is coming at their expense.

This is a key time for Beijing to get its point across, with President Hu Jintao scheduled to make his first state visit to the United States in mid-April where he is sure to encounter complaints about widespread intellectual property violations, an undervalued currency and China's expanding thirst for oil -- all of which fuel anti-China sentiment in Congress.

There are also security concerns over Chinese policy towards Taiwan, Japan, its resistance to U.N. involvement in the Sudan, as well as efforts on the North Korea and Iranian nuclear crises.

Government-run China Radio International was given the opportunity to ask Wen about efforts to convince the global community that its development was not a threat, and what role China played as a responsible participant in the international system.

"China's commitment to peaceful development is determined by its traditional cultural heritage, development needs and national interest. China is already a responsible big country," Wen began. He then listed ten items to prove his point.

"First, through China's reform and development, we have successfully resolved the problem of feeding 1.3 billion people in the world and successfully lifted over 200 million people out of poverty," the premier said.

Wen stated China's development and stability "in itself constitutes its biggest contribution to peace and prosperity in the world."

His second point was "through its own development and practice, we have successfully explored a role toward scientific development... we will focus on the conservation of resources and the protection of the natural environment.

"In this sense, China's development will have no adverse impact on the world," Wen claimed.

Wen said China "pursues an independent foreign policy of peace," adding that "ideology is not used as a criterion to define friends or foes. We will not enter into an alliance with any country or regional blocs."

Analysts see Chinese power projection taking place with countries on its borders using its economic muscle for security purposes. The prime minister did not mention the Shanghai Cooperation Organization which China created and underwrites involving energy-rich Central Asian states and Russia; nor the Greater Mekong Sub-region, a grouping initiated by the Asian Development Bank, as China is poised to play a more dominant role in Southeast Asia.

The prime minister asserted that China takes an active part in safeguarding the international system, citing membership in over 100 international organizations and signing 300 international treaties.

"We stand ready to work together with the international community to facilitate the establishment of a new international political and economic order," Wen noted, adding that China "stands as a staunch force for international peace and stability on such major international and regional issues bearing on peace such as the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula and Iranian nuclear issue."

Wen went on to call China a developing country, despite its brisk economic growth.

"China has worked actively to help others and itself to meet the U.N. Millennium Development Goals," he said. "We have cancelled debt worth about ($2.5 billion) with 44 underdeveloped countries. In the next three years we are going to offer concessionary loans worth about $10 billion dollars to some underdeveloped countries."

Wen noted that China's assistance "has no strings attached."

As for China's military policy, which has sparked concerns over belligerence, Wen said it remains "for self-defense and (is) defensive in nature."

During the NPC, China announced it was boosting its military spending by nearly 15 percent to $35 billion, though most analysts believe the real amount to be much higher, with figures buried in other parts of government spending.

"The limited increase in China's defense spending is completely for the purpose of improving the facilities and conditions for our men and women in uniform, and to improve the self-defense capabilities of our armed forces," Wen said. "We have not sent a single soldier abroad in the world; we have not taken a single inch of foreign land."

The prime minister concluded his remarks on China's rise by promising that "even when it is stronger; it will not interfere in others' internal affairs or have any adverse impact on them."

According to Wen, "China will not seek hegemony in the world, but will play its due role and discharge its due responsibilities."

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