NEW YORK, April 3 (Xinhua) -- China will continue to be "a responsible stakeholder" in the global community as the country builds on its economic success achieved through 40 years of reform and opening-up, a senior U.S. expert has said.

"2019 will be my 40th anniversary of me first setting foot in Beijing," Stephen Orlins, president of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, told Xinhua in a recent interview. "I would have never dreamed in the years I was in the (U.S.) State Department that China would develop the way it has... So I've witnessed this miracle, I believe the miracle will continue."

China is also making great contributions to global peace and development, noted the former diplomat and investor.

China is a productive member of the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, he said. "With efforts like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), China is building upon the existing global system in a positive way."

China's proposals for boosting global growth, like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and AIIB, have demonstrated its role as a "responsible stakeholder" in the world, Orlins said, citing a term then U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick famously used in 2005.

The BRI projects are expected to help lift people out of poverty in areas that have been hotbeds of terrorism, Orlins noted.

"When they bring this economic development there, it's good for reducing terrorism. It's a good thing for the United States and for the rest of the world," he said.