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)
