November 11, 2013, 6:15 am 79 Comments
China Offers Relatively Modest Aid for Typhoon Victims
By JANE PERLEZ
As international aid pours into the Philippines for victims of Typhoon Haiyan, China has offered $100,000 in cash, a figure that seems modest compared with its other recent contributions for humanitarian relief abroad.
Qin Gang, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters on Monday that China would send that amount to help the Philippines recover from a disaster that has left as many as 10,000 people dead. Asked if the donation was scaled according to the current chill in relations between China and the Philippines, Mr. Qin declined to answer.
In September, China said it would give a $1.5 million cash grant to Pakistan, its close friend, after an earthquake killed an estimated 500 people in the province of Baluchistan.
After a tropical storm hit the Philippines in 2011, China pledged $1 million in humanitarian aid. That was before relations between the two countries soured over disputed islands and reefs in the South China Sea.