 Chinese to get better protection overseas
By Li Xiang (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-01 07:57 China is stepping up its efforts to better protect the rights and interests of its citizens traveling or living abroad, a senior Foreign Ministry official said yesterday. Speaking at the launching ceremony of the new edition of the Guide to China's Consular Protection and Services, Assistant Foreign Minister Wu Hongbo said: "The Foreign Ministry and Chinese embassies and consulates are taking effective steps to enhance consular protection of Chinese citizens and to safeguard their rights and interests." Chinese nationals living or traveling abroad have in general felt safe and secure this year, but factors such terrorism, ethnic conflicts and natural disasters still pose a threat for them, Wu said. Though the revised guide is based on the 2007 edition, it carries new illustrations and photographs. "The purpose is to make the guide more user friendly so that Chinese nationals get in-depth information on the consular protection procedure and raise their self-protection awareness and ability." The number of Chinese traveling abroad has increased manyfold in recent years, which makes consular protection and services all that more necessary. Foreign Ministry figures show more than 40.9 million Chinese traveled and several million others were living abroad, mainly in Southeast Asia, Western Europe and North America, last year. The Foreign Ministry set up a consular protection center last year to strengthen its coordinative abilities on the precautions to be taken and how consular cases should be dealt with. (China Daily 07/01/2008 page11) |
