BEIJING, March 5 (Xinhuanet) -- China will continue to pursue an
independent foreign policy of peace in the new year, said Premier
Zhu Rongji in a report on government work he delivered at the
opening of the annual session of the National People's Congress
Tuesday.
  On the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence,
China will strengthen solidarity and cooperation with other
developing countries, further consolidate and deepen good-
neighborly friendship and cooperation with surrounding countries,
and continue to improve and develop the relations with developed
countries, Zhu said.
  China will play an active part in the affairs of the United
Nations and other international affairs, stand with people of all
other countries for the cause of peace, development and progress
and against hegemony, power politics and terrorism in all its
forms, promote the establishment of a just and reasonable new
international political and economic order, and make even greater
contributions to the maintenance of world peace and promotion of
common prosperity.
  The premier said that the international situation changed
dramatically in 2001. However, peace and development are still the
main themes of the times, and the trend toward a multi-polar world
remains unchanged, he stressed.
  Zhu said that China's international environment is still one
more of opportunity than of challenge. He said that the general
picture of the international situation for a period of time to
come will be that of overall peace and local warfare, overall
relaxation and local tension, and overall stability and local
turbulence.
  The premier said that amid the changes in international
relations, China's diplomatic work has entered a new stage, and
its international status and influence continue to rise.
  China and other developing countries have strengthened their
friendly relations. The good-neighborly friendship and cooperation
between China and its surrounding countries have enjoyed all-round
development.
  In June last year, China, Russia and four Central Asian
countries jointly announced the establishment of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization. At the Fifth China-ASEAN Summit, the two
sides agreed to gradually establish a China-ASEAN free trade zone
in the next 10 years.
  The relations between China and the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea, the Republic of Korea and South Asian countries
have developed steadily. China's friendly relations and
cooperation with African and Latin American countries have made
fresh progress, and China's friendly relations with the Arab
states and other Islamic countries have been further improved.
  The premier pointed out that development and improvement have
been achieved in China's relations with the U.S., Russia, the
European Union and Japan.
  China is participating actively and pragmatically in
multilateral diplomatic activities in the international political,
economic, cultural, social and disarmament arenas, firmly
safeguarding its sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity,
national security and national dignity.
  China has joined the international community in condemning and
fighting terrorism and is playing a constructive role in the
international counter-terrorism struggle, he said.