BEIJING - China never engages in aggression or expansion, and never seeks hegemony, says the white paper (full text) on China's development issued Tuesday by the Information Office of the State Council.

The Chinese nation loves peace.  From their bitter sufferings from war and poverty in modern times, the Chinese people have learned the value of peace and the pressing need of development, says the white paper.

They see that only peace can allow them to live and work in prosperity and contentment and that only development can bring them decent living, it says.

"Therefore, the central goal of China's diplomacy is to create a peaceful and stable international environment for its development,"  it says.

In the meantime, China strives to make its due contribution to world peace and development. It never engages in aggression or expansion, never seeks hegemony, and remains a staunch force for upholding regional and world peace and stability, according to the white paper.

The white paper introduced the path, objective and foreign policy of the peaceful development and elaborated on what China's peaceful development means to the rest of the world.

Stressing China will unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development, the white paper says this is "a path of scientific, independent, open, peaceful, cooperative and common development."

"Viewed in the broader, global and historical context, the path of peaceful development may be defined as follows: China should develop itself through upholding world peace and contribute to world peace through its own development," says the white paper.

The country should achieve development with its own efforts and by carrying out reform and innovation. At the same time, it should open itself to the outside and learn from other countries, it says.

China should seek mutual benefit and common development with other countries in keeping with the trend of economic globalization, and it should work together with other countries to build a harmonious world of durable peace and common prosperity, it says.

The white paper reiterated that peaceful development is a strategic choice made by China to realize modernization, make itself strong and prosperous, and make more contribution to the progress of human civilization.

China will unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development, it says.