Want to Work Positively with India in Nepal Relief Efforts, Says China

Beijing: China has played down reports of a competition with India in earthquake relief efforts in Nepal, with its foreign ministry saying it would like to work with India "positively" to help Nepal, which shares borders with both countries.

"China and India are neighbours to Nepal. We would like to work together and coordinate positively with India in our assistance efforts in Nepal to help it to overcome the difficulties and rebuild its homeland," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in Beijing.

He was responding a question on Nepalese Foreign Minister Mahendra Bahadur Pandey's reported remark that Nepal has divided areas between India and China for quake relief.

"Since Nepal was struck by the earthquake, the international community including China and India extended a helping hand to Nepal providing all kinds of assistance and support. We will continue to increase efforts in this regard," Mr Hong said.

Yesterday, former Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Zhang Chunxiang had told reporters, "There is no competition in quake relief efforts. We do not have competition with India and other countries. There is no competition in humanitarian assistance."

China is still evacuating about 8,000 tourists and workers employed in different projects in Nepal, where China in has in recent years sought to increase its influence with liberal grants and project financing.

India has sent aid and many teams of rescuers to Nepal and the Indian Air Force has been flying its choppers to remote areas to reach relief there, plucking injured men, women and children from hilltops and inaccessible valleys.

In capital Kathmandu, Chinese rescuers in red uniforms have been working along with members of Indias' National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and teams from other countries to search for survivors in the debris of collapsed buildings.

Nepal's government has struggled in the wake of the country's worst earthquake in nearly a century and its officials have been largely absent from public view. India and China - both promised rescuers, sniffer dogs, tents and food within hours of the quake - have won praise from stranded Nepalis.

"We have no faith in our government, only India and (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi are helping us," said villager Dhruba Kandel in Dhading. "If it were not for these helicopters, people would be dying on the mountains by the dozens."

China has it will provide nearly Rs 20 crore in aid to Nepal - the same as the entire European Union.