At the UN-sponsored conference of international donors that
convened in Geneva on Tuesday,?China's special representative
Shen
Guofang, also assistant foreign minister,?reaffirmed the
Chinese government's pledge of US$20 million for multilateral
relief and reconstruction efforts within the UN framework.
Shen pointed out that China launched its disaster relief
operation -- the largest in its history -- immediately after the
December 26 tsunami disaster. He stressed that China is a
developing country and not wealthy, but that "Our assistance is
sincere and selfless, with no strings attached. This has been the
abiding principle of our foreign aid over the years."
Premier Wen
Jiabao earlier promised that by the end of this month, more
than half of the pledged cash and material assistance would have
been put in place.
About 250 representatives of governments, aid agencies and
tsunami-hit countries attended the conference, which was chaired by
UN emergency relief coordinator, Jan Egeland. During the meeting,
donors committed a total of US$717 million for immediate use.
Shen told Xinhua News Agency that the Chinese government is also
willing to provide assistance in both hardware and software to
build an early warning system in the tsunami-affected region. He
said that about 25 other countries have expressed willingness to
join in China's proposal for such a system.
He noted that China has access to useful data from
meteorological satellites and that the country's past experience
with earthquakes and flooding has helped it to acquire expertise in
dealing with disasters.
Over?US$8 billion has been promised worldwide so far for
the tsunami relief and recovery effort. The catastrophe claimed at
least 156,000 lives in 11 countries and devastated entire
communities.
(Xinhua News Agency, China.org.cn January 12, 2005)