BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhua) -- A veteran Chinese diplomat said Sunday that public diplomacy needs to tell what it is, tell more and clearly.

    Chinese ambassador to the United Kingdom Fu Ying made the remarks during an interview with Xinhua.

    "No country in this world is perfect, and China also has its own problems at the current stage of development, thus through public diplomacy, we should make the outside world not only learn our achievements, but also our active attitude in facing and resolving our problems," said Fu.

    She also said the public diplomacy needs "quick and early response" so that China's voice can be heard by the international community at the first moment and the world know about the truth timely.

    She said it needs to say more and clearly about issues relating to China, so that the international community can learn the real situation and make objective judgements.

    Public diplomacy is a term coined in the mid 1960s to describe the foreign policy in engagements with foreign public.

    "China's public diplomacy faces both challenges and opportunities as the country becomes stronger and further develops and it becomes a more heavier task to safeguard and upgrade the country's international image," she said.

    Fu, one of a few Chinese female ambassadors and the first ambassador from the Mongolian ethnic group, had worked in the Philippines and Australia. Her public diplomacy outlook resulted from her long-term overseas experience.

    Recalling her recent communication with the UK youth at the Eton College and Oxford University, Fu found many students there consider China a world power. A poll also showed that more than 80 percent of Europeans interviewed considered China as the second-most powerful nation after the United States.

    "This reflects a big difference with our own evaluations and the actual situation of China as a developing nation," said Fu.

    China's per capita GDP equals to one-fifth of that of the UK. China's Hunan Province and the UK has almost the same land area and population, but the latter's GDP is as much as 17 times the figure of Hunan. UK's urban population account for 90 percent of its total, but 60 percent of China's population are rural residents.

    "China will make greater contributions to world peace and development, but it's a gradual process, and we should do it within our own capacity," Fu said.

    On the negative coverage on China by western media, she said it seemed that an invisible wall was erected between the east and west, due to the different political systems and values, some westerners' Cold War thinking and prejudice against China and those who are not adaptive to China's fast development, more importantly, their lack of understanding of China.

    Based on her overseas experience, she said, "I find in western countries, information about China, especially contemporary China, is limited, but in China, you can easily get a lot of information on west."

    Fu said China needs to take the initiative to introduce itself to western media and public. Last April, she published an article on Sunday Dispatch in response to negative reports by some British media on Olympic torch relay in London, and many readers supported her point of view. The article was also carried on newspapers in some African countries.

    "The case indicates that the international community want to hear our voice, and what is important is that we should seize and make good use of opportunities," she said.

    The relationship between China and the world had changed greatly as China's national overall strength increased gradually in the past 60 years, especially in the past 30 years since the country

    launched its reform and opening-up drive, Fu said. Chinese tourists, students and companies can be seen in every corner of the world and China's economic growth needs more resources and technologies from the outside market.

    She continued, China is becoming active on the international arena, and its views and stance are valued. Some experts and scholars are studying China, and what happens in China, big or small event, can easily become the focus of international media.

    "This requires us to take the initiative to conduct public diplomacy to help the outside world know better about China and about China's position on peace and development," said Fu.

    She also said that no doubt there have always been some people attempting to block the development of and tarnish the image of China, but the majority of westerners do hope to learn more about and be close to China.