Obama: China's rise 'good for the world'

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama says China's peaceful rise is ``good for the world, and it's good for America.''

At a joint news conference with China's president Wednesday, a Chinese journalist asked Obama whether the US president really thought he could live comfortably with a constantly growing China.

Obama skirted areas of tension in the US-China relationship, such as complaints that Beijing has not done enough to help rein in bellicose North Korea.

Instead, Obama said growth in China could lift millions of Chinese out of poverty and provide ``enormous economic opportunity'' to the US. He added that a growing China could play a positive role on the world stage in issues like climate change and weapons of mass destruction.