At the press conference sponsored by the State Council Information Office, Chen Jian, assistant minister of Commerce, briefed the press on China's humanitarian aid for foreign countries in 2005 and its overall stance on providing international humanitarian relief.
Chen says the largest emergency relief in the Chinese history was provided for countries stricken by the Indian Ocean tsunami on December 26, 2004. The Chinese government initially had announced funds of RMB21.63 million worth of emergency humanitarian relief in kind and cash. Later it added RMB500 million and multilateral donations of US$20 million.
China's basic stance of providing emergency disaster relief for foreign countries was also reviewed.
"Safeguarding world peace and promoting common development has always been the foreign policy that China has been practicing," Chen said.
"China has been observing the spirit of being responsible for the international community, of which China is a member. We are willing and ready to fulfill our obligations for and make our contribution to the common development of the international community and the creation of harmonious world. Being generous and friendly with others has been a traditional virtue of the Chinese and therefore we are more than willing to provide as much help as within our capacity when others encounter difficulties and need help," he added.
