BOAO, Hainan, April 24 (Xinhua) -- China's neighbors have benefited from its economic boom, said participants attending this year's annual conference of the Boao Forum of Asia (BFA) held in Boao, a serene seaside town on east coast of Hainan Province.  

   Vincent H.S.Lo, chairman of Shui On Holdings Limited in Hong Kong, said in the past 25 years, 30 percent of the world's gross of economic growth was from Asian countries. China alone contributed to 11 percent of the global aggregate of economic growth.

   Export of other Asian countries to China grew at an annual speed of 16.9 percent between 1995 and 2003, triple the world trade growth rate during the same period, while China's exports also grew at an unprecedented speed.

   China notched up 1.65 trillion US dollars in gross domestic product (GDP) last year, with its foreign trade topping 1.15 trillion US dollars and its foreign exchange reserves amounting to 600 billion US dollars.

   According to Lo, Japan, the Republic of Korea, as well as Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) -- Vietnam,
Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and the Philippines -- retained a favorable trade balance of 126.1 billion US dollars, a record high, in doing trade with China in last year alone.

   Lee Kuan Yew, minister mentor of the Republic of Singapore who is in Boao attending the BFA annual conference, which closed Sunday, said China's peaceful development would not pose threat to any country in the world. Instead it is to the benefit of different countries in the world to advance cooperation and help strike a win-win deal for all participating partners.

   Jia Qinglin, Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said in a speech delivered last Saturday at the conference that China will make a great contribution to harmony and prosperity of the entire Asia.

   "We will stay on the path of peaceful development, devoting all our resources to development. There is neither reason nor possibility for us to threaten anyone. Even if China gets more developed in the future, it will never seek hegemony," said Jia. Enditem