Beijing - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday urged China to play a bigger role in international affairs, as he began a series of meetings with the country's top leaders. 

State media quoted Ban as telling Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi that the United Nations also wanted to build a stronger partnership with China. 

Ban was scheduled to meet President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen 

Jiabao later on Wednesday. 

In a speech in Beijing on Tuesday, Ban praised China for its growing contribution to UN financing and peacekeeping operations. 

"China will need to rise even higher in both rankings if we are to meet growing global challenges," he said. 

"Today, the entire United Nations system expects China to help lead on the international agenda," Ban said at the China Foreign Affairs University. 

Ban also said he would push next week's G8 leaders' summit in Japan to honour promises to double aid to Africa and do more to combat infectious diseases. 

"The perfect storm of climate change and the food crisis underscore that the international community is in the midst of a development emergency," he said. 

He warned that failure to meet UN development goals would "prove a devastating blow" to relations between rich and poor nations, and would "strain the relationship between governments and the governed." 

The Chinese government said he also planned to meet patients infected with HIV/AIDS at a Beijing hospital on Wednesday and visit the "Bird's Nest" National Stadium, which will host the opening of the Olympic Games on August 8. 

Ban last visited China in late May, travelling with Wen to earthquake-devastated Sichuan province and praising the Chinese premier's leadership of relief efforts. 

He met Japanese leaders in Japan on Monday and was scheduled to leave China for South Korea on Thursday, before returning to Japan for the G8 summit. (dpa)