British lawmakers hail Chinese president's announcements at UN

British lawmakers have lauded the major initiatives Chinese President Xi Jinping announced at the United Nations (UN), saying they show China's determination to contribute to global causes.

Commenting on Xi's "Six 100s" initiative and an aid program for the UN, Richard Graham, a member of the Parliament (MP), told Xinhua: "And so China strides onto the world stage ... This is her new way of projecting influence and contributing to global causes."

The "Six 100s" initiative, declared at a South-South cooperation roundtable Xi hosted, covers poverty reduction, agriculture, trade, environment, health and education.

China, Xi said in an address, will make available to developing countries in the next five years 100 poverty reduction programs, 100 agricultural cooperation projects, 100 trade promotion programs, 100 environmental protection and climate change programs, 100 hospitals and clinics, as well as 100 schools and vocational training centers.

Addressing the UN General Assembly, Xi said China will establish a 1-billion-U.S.-dollar China-UN peace and development fund to support the UN's work, advance multilateral cooperation and contribute more to world peace and development.

Xi's initiatives also won praise from Lord David Alton, a member of the House of Lords and a former MP.

"The announcements made at the UN by President Xi are very positive developments and are to be greatly welcomed," Alton said.

Some of Xi's announcements at the UN took media commentators by surprise, particularly China's decision to set up a peacekeeping standby force of 8,000 troops and also provide 100 million dollars of free military aid for the African Union in the next five years to support the establishment of the African Standby Force and the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crisis.

"With close to 800 million people still living in extreme poverty, nearly 6 million children dying before the age of five and 60 million unable to attend school, the new development agenda must be turned into action," Xi said at the general debate of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly on Monday.

"Let us establish a new win-win partnership for all mankind. Let prosperity, fairness and justice spread across the world," Xi said.

Graham is chairman of Britain's All Party Parliamentary China Group (APPCG), which was set up in 1997 to widen the Parliament's contribution to the country's relationship with China.

Graham has recently returned to Britain after leading a delegation of Conservative and Labor MPs to three Chinese cities.

"China has undergone immense change. When I first arrived in Hong Kong in 1980, China didn't impinge much on the world. Although a UN Security Council member with the world's biggest population, she generated only 2 percent of global growth," he said.

"Today she represents 15 percent of global GDP, investing about 10 billion pounds (15.1 billion dollars) annually into the UK. Some 140,000 Chinese students study here while almost a million tourists have come this year," Graham said.

"China is important for jobs, businesses and our energy needs. As the only Chinese-speaking parliamentarian, I want my colleagues to see what's happening there and why China matters. In particular, how we can attract more Chinese investment in our infrastructure. We already get more of their investment than most of the rest of the EU together," he added. Endi