BEIJING -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Wednesday used his first meeting with foreign guests since his election to stress that China seeks peaceful development without detriment to any other country.

"China is following a path of peaceful development," Xi told a group of foreign experts working in China.

He said that the country's progress is not a selfish kind that will prove detrimental to other countries.

China's development will never be a challenge or a threat to any other country or the world at large, Xi said.

"China will never seek hegemony or expansionism," said Xi, who is also chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission.

The more China is developed, the more it is conducive to peace and development of the world, he added.

Xi said China is not only an active advocator but also a real doer of win-win cooperation in the world, committed to pragmatic cooperation with all other countries and providing assistance to other developing countries as much as it can.

The world has become an international community in which every one shares the same fate, and no country can prosper without others, Xi said, so all countries should make concerted efforts.

He called for a more equal and balanced global partnership to be established so as to safeguard the common interests of all human beings.

During the meeting, Xi also reiterated China's "unswerving" policy of opening up, pledging that the country will continue to "open the door to the outside" for further development.

"We are clear that China is still a developing country facing a series of grim challenges in spite of great progress that has been achieved," said the Chinese leader.

The Chinese people feel neither inferior nor superior, ready to learn from other countries, Xi told the experts at the Great Hall of the People.

He expressed his welcome for foreign experts of various specialties to participate in China's drive for modernization.