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QINGDAO, Shandong, June 29 (Xinhuanet by Xinhua writers Yang Xiaohong, Gao
Li) -- A ship laden with 270 tons of canned fish for last December's tsunami
victims left the Qingdao Port in east China's Shandong Province for Sri Lanka on
Wednesday.
The ship, "Bunga Bidara", will a
rrive in Colombo, capital of Sri Lanka,
after 20 days.
The 16 containers of mackerel valued at 320,000 US dollars on board are
just a small part of China's 20-million-US-dollar donation to the United Nations
agencies promised by Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao earlier this year.
It was the first time for China to extend aids to the south Asian country
through the World Food Program (WFP).
WFP Executive Director James Morris hailed the move as another milestone,
saying: "This generous and timely assistance testifies to China's strong sense
of solidarity with a fellow Asian country still struggling to recover from the
deadly disaster."
"It also underscores the Beijing government's growing commitment to
multilateralism as a way of solving the world's humanitarian and development
problems," Morris said.
WFP said in a press release on Tuesday that it is the first of two such
shipments, worth a total of one million dollars to support WFP food-for-work
schemes helping 180,000 Sri Lankans rebuild roads and other infrastructure
damaged by tidal surges.
Shortly after the devastation hit by tsunami at coastal areas around the
Indian Ocean last December, the Chinese government announced it would provide
humanitarian aids worth 21.63 million yuan (2.61 million dollars) to the
victims.
Later, an additional 500 million yuan (60 million dollars) of humanitarian
aids and 20 million dollars of multilateral aids were extended to the
tsunami-hit countries to help them fight against the disaster and the
reconstruction effort.
"Although China is a developing country and the aids we offered were not so
much, we have done our best," said Premier Wen, "Our help is sincere and
heartfelt, without any condition."
Sri Lankan Ambassador to China Nihal Rodrigo spoke highly of China's help
to the tsunami-stricken countries, saying that China is one of the countries
that offered humanitarian aids to his country soon after the disaster, including
both relief funds and materials.
China has dispatched not only medical and disaster-relief teamsto Sri
Lanka, but also DNA experts to help identify the victims, he said. The Chinese
government also exempted part of his country's debt.
"This shows China's friendliness to its neighbors as a responsible
country," the ambassador said.
With China's fast economic growth, government and non-governmental
organizations have showed increasing enthusiasm in offering humanitarian and
emergency aids to other countries.
Taking aids to Africa as an example. Statistics from the Ministry of
Commerce showed that China has helped build more than 800 projects in African
countries in the fields of agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing, textile,
energy, infrastructure, water and electricity since 1956.
China also exempted a total of 10.5 billion yuan of debts owed by 31
African countries.
Over the past four years, China donated 5 million dollars to the WFP. It
also signed a 25-year partnership with WFP, pledging to step up cooperation in
combating global hunger.
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