UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said here Thursday that the international
community is "grateful" to the Chinese government for its help to tsunami
victims.
Annan, who is here to attend the one-day Special ASEAN Leaders'Meeting on
Aftermath of Earthquake and Tsunami, told Xinhua at a press conference that
China has donated over 60 million US dollarsto the relief and reconstruction
efforts undertaken under the helm of his world body.
In his speech at the opening session of the emergency meeting held under the
auspices of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the United
Nations, Annan said, "The governmental response has been matched by
unprecedented generosity from the general public. Consider the six-year-old boy
in Shenyang,China, who donated his life savings of 22 dollars."
China, which so far has donated 60.46 million US dollars to tsunami affected
countries, has sent a second batch of relief materials worth of 1.21 million US
dollars to Medan on a charteredplane.
China has also sent a 35-member search and rescue team, including a field
hospital, to Aceh. The Chinese companies in Indonesia have donated 131,000 US
dollars in cash and 880,000 US dollars worth of goods and equipment to the
tsunami victims in Aceh and North Sumatra.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who is here attending Thursday's emergency
meeting, is scheduled to meet with Kofi Annan in the afternoon.