A senior Chinese legislator on Saturday called for enhancing the China-US people-to-people exchanges, which she said will contribute to maintaining peace in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as in the world.

Yan Junqi, vice chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislative body, issued the call in a speech to the opening ceremony of the fourth China-U. S. Civil Society Peace Forum held at the American University in Washington DC.

Yan is also the vice president of the Chinese People's Association for Peace and Disarmament (CPAPD), which co-sponsored the forum together with the American Friends Service Committee ( AFSC), with assistance from the China Foundation for Peace and Development and the American University.

Yan gave a brief introduction of the current state of China's development, as well as its choice of the road to peaceful growth. Although China has gained tremendous achievements in its economic development over the past three decades, which has lifted about 200 million people out of poverty, it remains a developing country faced with a lot of challenges, she said.

So China will continue to adhere to its peaceful foreign policies, including its good-neighborly policy, and is willing to develop friendly cooperation, on the basis of equal treatment and mutual benefits, with other countries in order to maintain peace and stability in the world, Yan added.

On the China-US relationship, Yan noted that it is one of the most dynamic and influential bilateral relationships in the world. During the visit to the US early this year by Chinese President Hu Jintao, both countries reached an important consensus that for the first time integrated the people-to-people exchanges into the strategic framework of enhancing overall relations.

Hailing the forum as an important platform for strengthening the people-to-people exchanges between China and the US, Yan stressed that it is nearly impossible to maintain good relations between the two countries without the strong support from both civil societies, which should be encouraged to deepen mutual understanding through mutual respect and tolerance.

The Chinese legislator urged the US government to handle with extreme care the important sensitive issues between the two sides, including the Taiwan issue. Referring to the US announcement of a 5.85-billion-US dollar package of arms sales to the Chinese island of Taiwan in September, Yan said that Washington should honor its commitment to stop such sales, so to avoid causing harm to the bilateral relations.

Shan Cretin, General Secretary of the AFSC, said that the US likes the use of force to advance its interests, but peace activists from the two countries are opposed to such policy. She said that there are no winners, but only losers in any military conflict.

Cretin called for turning the asia -pacific region into a nuclear-free zone and a place where countries will not use military posture against each other.