While some may question if China will be a benign power, Beijing wants to dispel the notion that its rise will harm other countries’ interests and that it looks down on small countries, said a top Chinese official on Tuesday (Dec 19).

Speaking at a public lecture, Madam Yan Junqi, Vice Chairman of the National People’s Congress, China’s legislature, acknowledged that suspicions about China’s rise may arise given the country’s large size.

But she added that there was no basis for such “prejudices”.

Instead, China wants to work with other countries to build a future global development concept for mankind, reiterating a goal outlined by President Xi Jinping at the Chinese Communist Party’s 19th Party Congress in October.

“If I do well, I also hope others do well. Only this kind of development can be stable and sustainable in the long term,” she said at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) Distinguished Public Lecture.