Bill Gates speaks at Peking University in Beijing, on March 24, 2017. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/chinadaily.com.cn]

China is "committed", "ambitious" and "vital", according to Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

The billionaire philanthropist was among leading business figures, academics and opinion leaders from around the world who were asked by China Daily to sum up China in just three words.

Apart from the somewhat obvious "big", words which regularly came up from respondents were "innovative", "dynamic" and "transforming", reflecting some of the spirit of the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era outlined in the general secretary's report to the 19th CPC National Congress.

Gates said he wanted his selection of words to reflect the fact that China was now "very important to the future of the entire world".

"Committed, because as much as any other country over the past few years, China has shown a commitment to health and development both at home and abroad. Ambitious, because of the targets it has set for itself, including wiping out extreme poverty by 2020. And vital, because we need an engaged and responsible China if we are to rid the world of what we call 'solvable human misery'," he responded.