The Trilateral Commission Pacific Asia Group will hold its first China conference in Beijing scheduled for November 25 through to 27, which will focus on the growing importance of the world's biggest developing country and on building mutual trust among nations wary of China's rise.

Around 50 guests including officials, scholars and entrepreneurs from North America, European Union countries and Asian-Pacific countries will attend the conference.

Topics to be discussed include "Common Regional Challenges and Joint Responses", "Road map for east Asia community building." But the main topic for discussion is "The Rise of China and Its Global Implications".

"The commission members want to discuss China's growth directly with Chinese elites from every field," said Dr. Qin Yaqing, vice president of the China National Association for International Studies.

He also said: "The rise of China attracts global attention. That's why the commission decided to hold a regional conference in China for the first time." 

"The Beijing regional conference is to serve as a platform for China to show its peaceful progress," Qin said, adding that it is also an opportunity to make the country's peaceful rise known to the international community.

The Trilateral Commission was formed in 1973 by private citizens of Japan, European Union countries, United States and Canada to foster closer cooperation among these core democratic industrialized areas of the world and to share leadership responsibilities in the wider international system.

Over the past three decades, it has exercised influence on government policies in countries of the three regions.

The commission has long proposed to expand the G7 mechanism to include regional powers such as Russia, China, India and Brazil with the principle of sharing leadership responsibilities.

(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily November 24, 2005)