Coordinated Evacuation from Libya

By staff reporter LI WUZHOU

Shanghai Airlines' flight FM608 touched down at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport at 11:15 p.m. Saturday, March 5. Aboard the government-chartered flight was the last batch of evacuees, 149 of them, returning from Libya via their staging post in Malta. This brought the number of Chinese nationals evacuated and repatriated from Libya to a total of 35,860.

China Today asked Wu Sike, China's Middle East special envoy, for his remarks about the operation.

People-focused Diplomacy in Action

With the outbreak of armed conflict in Libya this February, the Chinese government took urgent measures to evacuate its nationals from Libya. The rescue, by land, sea and air, required the close cooperation and coordination of many departments and was an embodiment of China's people-focused diplomacy. Such a large-scale operation, the orderly removal from danger to safety of more than 35,000 Chinese nationals within such a short time, manifests the Chinese government's concern for life and dignity. It is also a reflection of how China's national strength has grown.

Respect for Life Transcending Borders

It is worth making the special point that Chinese companies in Libya also made evacuation plans for their non-Chinese employees. Over 2,000 of those evacuated were foreigners, most of them employees of Chinese companies. That number also included nationals of China's neighbor countries, since we responded to their governments' requests to help them to safety. This humanitarian effort transcended considerations of borders.

A Reflection of Our Diplomacy

The success of the evacuation effort owes much to the help of countries neighboring to Libya. Though Tunisia and Egypt had not long emerged from their own turmoil, they took action at our request and other countries, Greece also provided great assistance. Such cooperation is a fruit of China's long-term diplomatic work: developing countries like Egypt have been a foundation and emphasis of our foreign policy, and Greece and Malta have had friendly relations with China for a long time now. It is concrete proof that our diplomatic principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of another countries, a policy of mutual respect, benefit and cooperation, has helped us keep friendly relations with dissimilar countries. Our stance on the global financial crisis has also helped: when Premier Wen Jiabao visited Greece last year he made it clear that that the crisis was something we all faced together, and this spirit of working together has been shown in the help afforded in the evacuation of our nationals from Libya.