UN relief chief expects strengthened co-op with China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-05-05 10:56

UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations relief chief said on Monday that China's cooperation with the world body "has been very good," and that he expects to further improve this kind of cooperative relations.

John Holmes, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, told the Xinhua News Agency that "I think the cooperation has been very good and we want to improve it further."

A Very Good Cooperation

On the China-UN cooperation, Holmes said, "I think it was very good at the time of the earthquake."

The magnitude-8.0 quake that hit southwest China, including many parts of Sichuan Province, on May 12, 2008 killed more than 69,000 people. It also left nearly 18,000 missing, more than 374,000 injured and millions homeless.

"We were able to help a little bit, as I said, and we were very willing to do that and we were impressed by what China was able to do," Holmes said, referring to the UN assistance including 8 million US dollars from the UN Central Fund to help with some of the immediate aid and assistance.

"I think as time goes on and China becomes a more prosperous country, and an even more important country in the world than it is now, it's right for China to play a role in the wider, multilateral system in responding to disasters as well, not just natural disasters but in the major conflict situations," he said.

"You have so much to offer in terms of experience, in terms of people," he said. "Just as China is becoming more involved, for example, in international peacekeeping around the world, it is logical for China to be more involved in the international response to disasters both before they happen and after they happen, and that's one of the things I was strongly encouraging while in Beijing and elsewhere."

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