China will donate US$250,000 to the UN refugee agency for its humanitarian work in 2008, a senior Chinese diplomat said in Geneva on Tuesday.

Li Baodong, Chinese ambassador to the United Nations Office in Geneva, said China makes the donation in the spirit of "international solidarity and burden sharing," adding that the amount will be used for helping developing countries' capability building.

Addressing the annual Pledging Conference of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Li said the total number of world refugees increased dramatically to nearly 10 million last year, the first such increase since 2000.

"China believes that the UNHCR, as an important international organization in the field of humanitarian assistance, has both the obligation and capability to tackle various humanitarian challenges in cooperation with all governments," he said.

According to the ambassador, about three quarters of the world's refugees are now being sheltered in poor developing countries.

"Helping those developing countries build up their capability for refugee protection is a major task faced by the international community," he said.

Li added that the Chinese government will try its best to provide timely assistance to those developing countries that have received large numbers of refugees.

(Xinhua News Agency December 12, 2007)