Sixteen members of the Blue Sky Rescue Team, a Chinese civil relief squad, set off from Ruili City in southwest China’s Yunnan Province on Saturday morning, heading to northern Myanmar’s earthquake zone to aid in relief operations..
The Blue Sky Rescue Team is China's largest non-governmental professional emergency rescue organization.
The team traveled in five vehicles and carried small-scale rescue equipment and medical supplies.
At the request of Myanmar government, the Chinese government has also sent a rescue team with 82 members to carry out humanitarian relief operations. The team flew from Beijing Capital Airport to Myanmar on Saturday.
A powerful 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck the Southeast Asian country on Friday. So far, over 1,000 people had been confirmed dead in the disaster.
More Chinese rescuers join efforts to aid quake-hit Myanmar
The new China-Mongolia cross-border railway is expected to serve as a new bridge for boosting connectivity between the two countries, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said in Beijing on Thursday.
China and Mongolia held a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday to mark the official launch of construction on the Gantsmod–Gashuunsukhait rail project, which will be the second cross-border rail link between the two countries.
Lin said at a regular press briefing that the railway would inject new momentum into the development of China-Mongolia bilateral relations.
"On May 14, China and Mongolia held a ceremony to mark the official groundbreaking of the Gantsmod-Gashuunsukhait cross-border railway, which is the second cross-border railway between the two countries. Expanding cooperation in key areas such as economy and trade, energy, mining and connectivity is an important common understanding between President Xi Jinping and Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh. In February this year, Premier Li Qiang and Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene jointly witnessed the exhibiting of the cooperation agreement on the Gantsmod-Gashuunsukhait railway and coal trade," said Lin.
"The construction of this cross-border railway is not only a concrete step of implementing the important common understanding between the presidents of the two countries, but also an important action to synergize the Belt and Road Initiative and Mongolia's Steppe Road Program. We hope this railway will serve as a new bridge for China-Mongolia connectivity, fostering deeper development integration, promoting industrial synergy, and expanding visits and exchanges, thereby injecting new impetus in to the building of a China-Mongolia community with a shared future," he said.
New cross-border railway to enhance connectivity between China, Mongolia: FM spokesman
