Chinese President Hu Jintao said in Beijing on January 1, 2005 that the Chinese government and Chinese people are willing to "provide any possible aid in its power" for the tsunami-affected countries.

Hu made the pledge when speaking at a New Year tea party held by the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference this morning in Beijing.

"We deeply sympathize with the victims' families and give our cordial regards to them and their countries that suffered a great loss in last Sunday's tsunami," Hu said.

China is willing to help and sincerely wishes its neighboring countries would soon recover from the disaster, Hu added.

Hu's comments came one day after China announced it will add an additional 500 million yuan (60.46 million US dollars) of humanitarian aid to the tsunami-hit countries.

Source: Xinhua