Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Saturday said both China and the other Asian countries should take creative and pioneering steps to pull the Asian economy out of the shadow of the global financial crisis.

"In face of the international financial crisis, it is important for China and the other Asian countries to be creative and take pioneering steps so that our Asian economy could be one of the first to walk out from the shadow cast by the financial crisis," he said at a press conference on the sidelines of China's annual parliamentary session.

Yang described China as "a member of the big Asian family," saying that "We hope to see political stability, economic development and improved livelihood of our surrounding countries."

China's economy contributed 20 percent to the world's economic growth last year, said Yang, adding that he believed the contribution to the growth of the Asian economy would be even bigger.

To work closely with the other Asian countries, Yang said China would push forward the 10+1 (ASEAN plus China) and 10+3 (ASEAN plus China, Japan and the Republic of Korea) cooperation, with the aim of establishing an Asian capital market and 10+3 foreign exchange reserve pool.

"Our relations with the other Asian countries are much more than just mutually beneficial cooperation in the economic and trade fields," the foreign minister said. "Our relation is a friendship of shared principles and integrity."

(Xinhua News Agency March 7, 2009)