BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Friday offered 500 million yuan ($60.42 million) in aid for tsunami-ravaged countries on top of $2.6 million already pledged.
China was a developing country, but was providing aid out of gratitude for relief it had received for its own disasters, Wen told diplomatic envoys from tsunami-hit South and Southeast Asian countries at Beijing's Zhongnanhai leadership compound.
At a little over $63 million, Beijing is now the third biggest monetary donor behind Britain and Sweden. The United States has made an initial pledge of $35 million.
"The Chinese people are very concerned about the sudden disaster and we have deepest sympathy for the people affected," the premier said.
"The people who have been affected are in our minds and in our hearts," Wen said. "On behalf of the Chinese government and people and President Hu Jintao and myself, I would like to express our consolation to the disaster-hit people and our condolences to the families of those who died in the disaster."
The death toll from the tsunami, triggered by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off Indonesia on Sunday, rose to more than 126,000 on Friday in the 13 countries.
"What is particularly encouraging is that the assistance was swift, it was unsolicited and it was timely," said Sri Lankan Ambassador Nihal Rodrigo, whose country posted a death toll of more than 28,500 with over 5,000 missing and almost 890,000 people displaced.
China decided to increase aid at a meeting of the foreign, finance, commerce and health ministries, the seismological bureau and the People's Liberation Army on Wednesday. Chinese medical and search teams are on standby.
China, until recently a major recipient of foreign aid, had earlier said there was only so much it could do as a developing country.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said on Thursday the initial pledge of 21.63 million yuan ($2.6 million) was equivalent to the annual income of 20,000 Chinese farmers.
As a developing country with a population of 1.3 billion and a low per capita GDP, China was providing aid within its power, Liu said.
The official Xinhua news agency has said more than 70 Chinese tourists were missing.
China Southern Airlines has airlifted food, medicine and clothing to Sri Lanka, Xinhua said.
The tourism bureau has warned tourists against traveling to tsunami-hit countries.
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