From Deutsche Presse-Agentur:
Fuelled by its economic growth and armed with a new sense of self-confidence, China now counts itself among the powerful nations of the world and is eager to assert its global authority among the Group of Eight (G8) industrial nations.
‘China and the G8 countries are each important players in the international community,’ Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said ahead of the three-day G8 summit in St Petersburg beginning Saturday.
Although China is not a member of the G8, president and party chief Hu Jintao will be at the summit for bilateral talks as well as an outreach session on July 17 to discuss topics including energy security, epidemic diseases, education and development in Africa. [Full text]
For the Chinese government’s perspective, read “China’s relations with G8 raise body’s status” from People’s Daily.
