By Liu Chang

The Global Times English-language edition celebrated its first birthday in Beijing Tuesday, amid congratulations from the diplomatic community and wishes for continued success in the years to come.

Representatives from the embassies of Chile, France, Britain, Egypt, Brazil and other nations joined the celebration and expressed admiration for the progress of the newspaper.

Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the Global Times, said the English-language paper has confronted an eventful year since its launch, citing events such as the July 5 Xinjiang riots, the Rio Tinto scandal and Google's withdrawal from the Chinese mainland, which triggered hot debate between China and the rest of the world.

"Those events posed challenges for the English-language edition's reporting. Based on truth, we reported those events in an objective way, reflecting all voices and opinions that we could collect," Hu said.

He added that the Global Times gives more space to grassroots voices and Internet comments on major news events, which were often ignored by domestic media in the past.

Francois Legue, counselor of press and communication from the Embassy of France, spoke as a representative of the invited guests. Legue expressed hopes that the Global Times will continue to report " not only China's voice, but also China's voices" so that differing opinions in China will be understood around the globe.

The 1-year-old daily is the second nationwide English-language paper in China and was launched on April 20, 2009.

It has built a reputation for its outspoken, yet fair and balanced news reports over the past year.

Since gaining a secure foothold on the foreign readership market in China, the paper has speeded up the pace of expansion.

Global Times launched its first metropolitan section, the 16-page Metro Beijing, in September 2009, to meet the growing demand for expat news in Beijing, a burgeoning world city.

Metro Shanghai, the Global Times English-language edition's second metro section, hit the streets in April this year, two weeks ahead of opening ceremonies for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, which is expected to attract 70 million visitors from home and abroad.

As the expat population grows in the two major cities and more locals are reading the news in English, the metro sections cater to urban lifestyles, work and study, providing fast and reliable local news about economic, social and cultural affairs.

In addition, the two sections cover entertainment happenings and nightlife in the expat community, providing "news you can use" on all aspects of daily life, including food, shopping and community services.

"We sincerely want to make friends with expats in China, providing them with English-language service of high-quality," Hu said at the newspaper's first anniversary party.

"We promise we will try our best."

Guan Chengyuan, former Chinese ambassador to Belgium and the EU.

He Weiwen, former China's Economic & Commercial counsellor in the US and AEA council member.

Yang Wei, Olympic gymnastic champion.

Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the Global Times donates for people in Yushu.

Guests are writing down their best wishes for the people of the quake-hit Yushu, China's Qinghai Province.

Winners of the first round of the lucky draw session get 500 yuan coupons of Smart Health Medical and Dental Center.

Winner of the second round of the lucky draw session gets a bottle of wine.

Winner of the last round of the lucky draw session wins one-month free drive of Mercedes Benz Smart.