A view of Canton Tower in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. [Photo/VCG]

Chinese modernization will bring more opportunities to countries and regions around the world, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Wang Gang, deputy head of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said Chinese modernization and China's peaceful development posed no threat to the world.

Wang made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the Understanding China — Greater Bay Area Dialogue forum, which kicked off in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, on Wednesday.

"The Chinese modernization drive brings development opportunities to the world," he said.

China is the world's second-largest economy and the second-largest consumption country with rapid economic development and social stability, he said.

"Embracing China is embracing the future, and investing in China is investing in the future," he said.

"As China opens its doors wider to the outside world, Chinese modernization will open up more space and create unlimited possibilities for cooperation among countries," Wang said.

Wang Weizhong, governor of Guangdong province, said his government is accelerating the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and promoting the modernization drive and the province's high-quality development through deepening reform and opening-up.

Guangdong, which has a population of more than 127 million, had a GDP of more than 12 trillion yuan ($1.85 trillion) and a foreign trade volume of more than 8.3 trillion yuan last year, accounting for one-fifth of the country's total, the governor said.

"Guangdong would comprehensively deepen reform and expand high-level opening-up to the outside world to help create a full process innovation ecosystem and build the world's most influential industrial technology innovation center in the near future," he said.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, former Philippine president and senior deputy speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines, said China has proven that it is not a competitor to anyone, but a development partner.

"China opens its markets and provides aid, capital and technologies to developing countries," she said.

First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma in Russia, Ivan Ivanovich Melnikov, said the most urgent task is to establish a new type of international relations based on respecting the legitimate demands, national interests and characteristics, of all countries worldwide.

"China is a model for successfully establishing such a new type of relationship," he said. Guided by the principle of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, China has engaged in constructive dialogue with countries around the world, making outstanding contributions to safeguarding global and regional peace and security, he said.

The three-day forum, including parallel and closed-door seminars and special sessions, will involve politicians, experts, scholars, business executives, diplomats and representatives of international organizations exchanging views about Chinese modernization and opportunities for the world.

Foreign participants were invited to visit the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to get a sense of its economic vitality, which included nine Guangdong cities, plus the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.