Full Text of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's speech to British think tanks(3)

China is a major responsible country. China stands for mutual respect, equality and peaceful coexistence among countries and acts in accordance with the UN Charter and the norms governing international relations. China calls for peaceful settlement of disputes and conflicts through diplomatic channels and opposes the use of force or interference in other countries' internal affairs. China is steadfast in pursuing the path of peaceful development and follows a win-win strategy of opening-up. China is ready to work with other countries to foster an international environment of enduring peace.

China has over the years contributed significantly to peace and stability in Asia. Thanks to the common ground China reached with neighboring countries for cooperation and win-win progress, a sound atmosphere has been created for handling differences through negotiations and consultations, hence the prosperity and development of East Asia today. China follows a neighbourhood policy of building friendship and partnerships with surrounding countries and wants to live in peace with all its neighbors. But for those acts of provoking incidents and undermining peace, China will have to take resolute measures to stop them so as to prevent the situation from getting out of control and bring the situation back to the track of dialogue and negotiations. I believe as long as countries in the region could engage in dialogue and negotiations with sincerity and in good faith, the environment of peace and tranquility will be maintained.

History tells us that war means the failure of human wisdom. Peace is the result of reflection on disasters and sufferings. As the former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said, "In history lies all the secrets of statecraft. Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." We must learn lessons from the past, face history squarely and be forward-looking. We need to seek political settlement of international and regional issues, and work together to counter traditional and non-traditional security challenges and advance prosperity and development of the world.

Fourth, on China' s reform and opening-up.

China' s modernization needs not only a peaceful and stable external environment, but also strong impetus from reform and opening-up. China' s big population means tremendous creativity and its market has huge vibrancy. I once worked as the Party secretary of a village production team in Fengyang county, Anhui province back in the 1970s, a time of the planned economy. I was responsible for assigning work to the hundreds of farmers in the village every day. The villagers worked hard in the field from dawn to dusk, but still they could make very little for a decent meal. Later, to enforce rural reform, the system of household contract responsibility was introduced, which gave villagers the right to decide what crops to grow and how to grow them. In just a few years, food was no longer a problem. It is reform and opening-up that has given hundreds of millions of Chinese vast space for pursuing their own development, and spurred steady social progress. Reform has led to fast development of China. It has provided a driving force for economic growth today and it will sustain China' s development in the years to come.

The key to reform is to streamline administration and delegate government power. To further energize the market and encourage greater creativity from the society, the government needs to, first and foremost, reform itself by delegating powers on matters outside their mandate and leaving to the market what should be decided by the market. Though the economy was operating under difficulties last year, we managed to unleash the potential of private investment through streamlining administration and delegating power. The reform of business registration system in March this year was followed by a surge of over 40% in the number of newly registered businesses, giving strong boost to new business start-ups and job creation. We will also advance structural reform and give more play to the role of private capital by easing market access. All in all, the purpose of reform is to inspire the enthusiasm of the Chinese people and provide more platforms for their innovation and creation so that there will be a chance for everyone' s dream to come true. Of course, to delegate power does not mean that the government will give free rein to everything. We will delegate power while enforcing government regulations with tighter oversight on and law-based handling of the production and selling of counterfeit and shoddy goods, IPR infringement and environmental pollution.