China to pursue road of peaceful development: Hu Jintao

Delivering his New Year address, the president also said the country would forge ahead with reform and opening up as well as its drive for modernisation in 2013.

Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China with Xi Jinping as general secretary, the people were forging ahead toward completing the building of a moderately prosperous society, Shanghai Daily quoted Hu as saying while greeting the Chinese and people across the world on New Year.

"The Chinese people are always the ones who will firmly promote world peace and development," he said. "The country will encourage and adopt peaceful means to properly settle both international and regional issues."

China would continue to transform its economic development pattern as well as pursue progress while ensuring stability in the year ahead, the president said.

The country would stick to the guidelines of "one country, two systems", he said. "Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong" and "Macau people governing Macau", with a high degree of autonomy, thus facilitating the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macau.

"We will continue to promote the peaceful development of mainland-Taiwan ties, bring benefit to compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and guard the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation," he said.

"China will work hard to facilitate the robust, sustainable and balanced growth of the world economy and play its role as a responsible major power," he added.

China has been engaged in territorial disputes with its neighbours overs its claim on South China sea and East China sea.

China claims sovereignty over the entire South China Sea, parts of which are claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The disputed Diayou islands in the East China Sea, also claimed by Taiwan and Japan, lie on a vital shipping route and are surrounded by large hydrocarbon deposits beneath them. Japan says it has controlled the islands since 1895 until its surrender at the end of World War II.

The islands were controlled by the US from 1945 to 1972 and subsequently returned to Japan. China claims the islands' discovery and control since the 14th century.