In a signed article published by the People's Daily on February 27, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said that China would advocate peace, development and cooperation, and always pursue an independent foreign policy of peace.

The article, titled "Our Historical Tasks at the Primary Stage of Socialism and Several Issues Concerning China's Foreign Policy", said that China is at the primary stage of socialism now, and will remain so for a long time to come.

The Chinese premier said that to build a country of more than one billion people into a prosperous, strong, democratic, civilized and harmonious modern socialist country is an unprecedented endeavor in human history.

Wen said that after the founding of New China in 1949, great achievements were made in China's development. However, China missed a major development opportunity because of some big policy mistakes, and particularly the disastrous 10-year-long "Cultural Revolution".

"Opportunity is rare," Wen said. "In the past 28 years of reform and opening-up, China's economy has maintained fast and sustainable growth. This is a miracle. Will China have another period of opportunity in the future? My answer is yes. How long will it last? This will depend on what domestic and foreign policies we follow and on our ability to respond to new developments."

He said that China should take its own path in enhancing democracy. "We never view socialism and democracy as something that is mutually exclusive. As a matter of fact, we see a high degree of democracy and well developed legal system as the inherent requirement of socialism and a key important feature of a mature socialist system."

"We are fully capable of building China into a country of democracy and rule of law under socialist conditions," said Wen.

Writing about China's foreign policies, the premier said China would advocate peace, development and cooperation and pursue an independent foreign policy of peace.

"China works to uphold its independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, makes judgment independently on the merit of each international issue and takes position accordingly. It does not use ideology and social system as a criterion in conducting diplomacy, nor does it impose its values on others."

Following is the English translation of Wen Jiabao's article.

I. Our Historical Tasks at the Primary Stage of Socialism

A keen appreciation of China's national conditions and its historical stage is the basis for our Party to put forward theories in a scientific way and adopt correct principles and policies. It is also a key prerequisite for ensuring the success of all our endeavors.

China is at the primary stage of socialism, and will remain so for a long time to come. The primary stage means a stage of underdevelopment, which manifests itself, first and foremost, in the low level of the productive forces. Therefore, we must unswervingly take economic development as the central task and go all out to boost the productive forces. However, when we talk about the primary stage, we should not just think about the underdeveloped productive forces. We should also recognize that the socialist system still has room for improvement and that it is not yet a mature one. Comrade Deng Xiaoping pointed out that in essence, socialism is about liberating and developing the productive forces, eliminating exploitation and polarization, and ultimately, it is about achieving prosperity for all. This means that in consolidating and developing socialism, we must be clear about and focus on two major tasks: one is to liberate and develop the productive forces to vastly increase the material wealth of the whole society, and the other is to achieve social fairness and justice, fire the creativity of the whole nation and promote social harmony. The two tasks are interconnected and reinforce each other. As a holistic endeavor, they should be pursued throughout the historical course of all the development stages of socialism. Without the sustained and full development of productive forces, it will be impossible to achieve social fairness and justice, an essential requirement of socialism. Without gradual progress in social fairness and justice along with the growth of productive forces, it will be impossible to give full play to the initiative and creativity of all the people and ensure sustained and full development of productive forces. In implementing Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of "Three Represents", following the scientific thinking on development and building a socialist harmonious society, it is critical that we have a full and scientific understanding of the essence of socialism.