China has approximately 140 million senior citizens aged over 60 who are in need of social assistance, said Li Xueju, minister of civil affairs, at a two-day China Charity Conference opened in Beijing on Sunday.

"There are 60 million disaster victims in the country each year and 75 million people in rural areas living in abject poverty call for social assistance," Li said.

This is unaffordable to the government only, acknowledged Li, who underscored the role of charity organizations in carrying out aid assistance activities.

"Charity is one of the crucial measures to channel social funds to help those people in need, and it could also narrow down the gap between the rich and the poor, so as to balance disparity between the people of various social strata," said vice premier Hui Liangyu at the opening ceremony of the conference.

Hui also urged governments at varies levels to coordinate and incorporate charity activities into their social and economic development plans.

China currently has 280,000 non-governmental charity organizations registered in the Ministry of Civil Affairs by the end of 2004. And the membership of the China Charity Federation has risen to 168 in the past 11 years since its founding in 1994.

"However, China's charities are still at their initial stages in view of public awareness, donation system, laws and regulations, and supervision mechanism, said Li. The China Charity Conference, held at the sponsorship of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the China Charity Federation, has drawn more than 700 participants.

(Xinhua News Agency November 21, 2005)