China will send more medical personnel to work in the
tsunami-hit South and Southeast Asian countries according to their
future need, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan at a regular
press conference in Beijing on Thursday.
These countries are now facing issues of public health, DNA
identification and epidemic prevention rather than emergency
medical services for the people who have been seriously
injured.
So far, 41 of the 164 medical professionals chosen for services
in the tsunami-stricken countries have been dispatched, with the
remaining 123 on standby for departure, he said.
On December 30, a 15-member team left Shanghai for Phuket,
Thailand, and a second team of 12 sent by Guangdong Province on
December 31 is now also in Phuket. On January 2, a 14-member
medical team set off from Beijing for Sri Lanka.
By 2:00 PM Thursday, the Red Cross Society of China had received
actual donations and pledges totaling 45 million yuan (US$5.4
million) from individuals and organizations. Kong said that 5.5
million yuan in cash and materials had been sent to Indonesia, Sri
Lanka, Thailand, India, Myanmar, Maldives and Malaysia.
The China Charity Federation, another organization authorized to
receive donations, has received 30.1 million yuan (US$3.6 million),
part of which has been delivered.
Kong said the Chinese government strongly condemns the illegal
act of defrauding people of money under the name of tsunami
donations.
As people and organizations scrambled to get aid to the stricken
nations, swindlers in several countries set up false websites or
other entities to accept "donations."
Kong said the public should be aware of such scams and make
donations only through legal channels.
China has proposed holding a seminar on a disaster early-warning
system with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in
Beijing on January 25 and 26.
Experts from the ASEAN member nations, India, Sri Lanka,
Maldives and some international organizations would be invited,
Kong said. China hopes to establish an information exchange
mechanism and assessment and warning system for natural calamities,
including earthquakes and tsunamis.
Premier Wen
Jiabao attended the international tsunami summit held in
Jakarta, Indonesia, on Thursday, joining more than 20 other
government leaders and representatives of international
organizations to coordinate global relief efforts for the
tsunami-hit countries.
Kong refuted some press reports claiming ethnic Chinese
Indonesians had been the target of large-scale robberies. He said
the Chinese government had looked into the allegations, as had its
embassy in Indonesia, and there were no reports of such cases.
"All the local Chinese have said that currently the priority is
to start reconstruction," he said.
Turning to Sino-Russian energy cooperation, Kong said China
hopes to make concrete progress in this area with bilateral
effort.
He said energy cooperation constitutes an important part of
China-Russia strategic partnership and mutually beneficial economic
cooperation.
State leaders, governments and related organizations consider
the project important and have discussed various plans and
proposals, he said. However, there is no official information yet
on the plan to lay the pipeline.
Kong dismissed speculation that the postponement of a visit by a
group of Japanese lawmakers to Beijing is linked to a controversial
visit by former Taiwan leader Lee Teng-hui to Japan.
"This visit by Diet members was suspended because a lot of areas
will be covered and we need more time to prepare for it," he
said.
Kong said China will send a six-member observation group led by
former Ambassador to Turkey Yao Kuangyi to the upcoming Palestinian
presidential election on January 9.
He said China hopes the election goes smoothly and is willing to
provide assistance if necessary.
"All parties to the Middle East issue are making unremitting
efforts for the resumption of peace talks, and the situation has
shown signs of easing," he said.
Kong announced Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio will visit
China from January 11 to 17, and Prime Minister of Andorra, Marc
Forne Molne, will visit China from January 15 to 18.
(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily January 7, 2005)