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XIAMEN, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Two chartered planes
carrying a total of 246 Chinese from riot-torn East Timor arrived at the Gaoqi
international airport of Xiamen, a coastal city in east China's Fujian Province
Monday night.
Chinese Zhuang Miaoxian holds a
Chinese national flag upon arriving at the Gaoqi international airport in
Xiamen, a coastal city in east China's Fujian Province, May 29, 2006. The
chartered planes carrying 243 Chinese from riot-torn East Timor arrived at
the Gaoqi international airport of Xiamen Monday night. (Xinhua
Photo) |
Officials with China's Foreign Ministry, Ministry of
Public Security, Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council and the
provincial and city governments greeted the evacuated Chinese at the airport.
The officials queued in a long line, shaking hands
with the evacuees, who waved China's national flags as they got off the planes.
"I felt so relieved when seeing them back home
safely," Zhu Taoying, deputy general director of the consulate department under
the Foreign Ministry.
The evacuees, many of them serving as businessmen,
engineers and workers in East Timor, were from a dozen provinces on the Chinese
mainland as well as the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions.
At the airport entrance, provincial officials were
waiting for the evacuees, raising high plates with their names, and took them
away for their hometown with buses.
"I just left all my properties there and return by
the chartered plane," said Wang Deren, a mid-aged man from Fujian Province who
ran a grocery in East Timor.
Wang said he sought shelter in the Chinese embassy in
East Timor after the riot broke out. "Almost all the Chinese in East Timor fled
to the embassy and we made a big crowd there."
China's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that nearly
200 Chinese citizens had sought shelter in the Chinese Embassy in EastTimor,
where they were offered tents, food, water, medicine and other living
necessities.
The youngest evacuee was a three-month-old baby girl
who returned in the arms of her uncle.
"Her parents chose to stay in East Timor taking care
of their business. They asked me to bring my little niece back to China which
they believe is the safest place under heaven," said the uncle.
The ministry said earlier that about 500 Chinese
lived in East Timor, among whom about 200 had already left.
An official with the Foreign Ministry said China will
continue to closely follow the situation in East Timor and make all effortsto
ensure the safety of the Chinese, including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan
compatriots, who chose to remain in the tiny country.
Among the evacuees, 61-year-old man surnamed Zhan was
a Chinese-East Timorese. He was born in East Timor and currently serves as a
member of East Timor's chamber of commerce.
Zhan said this was the first time he was in China. "I
knew little about the People's Republic of China in the past. I didn't expect
that I had the honor to take the Chinese government's chartered plane to leave
the dangers in East Timor."
The Chinese government has agreed to help him go to
Macao and stay there until peace is restored in East Timor, he added.
So far, there has been no report of Chinese citizens
being injured or killed in the riot, according to the Foreign Ministry.
To better protect Chinese overseas, the Foreign
Ministry on Monday set up a new section under its consular department to focus
on providing protection and help to these people.
Violence took place in East Timor in late April after
the East Timorese government decided to sack almost half of the country's
soldiers, who protested against poor conditions and staged a strike.
The situation in East Timor deteriorated on Thursday
when at least nine people were killed and 27 others wounded.
As a result of the turmoil at home, East Timor
President XananaGusmao postponed his China visit, which was originally scheduled
from May 29 to June 3.
Last month, China evacuated 325 Chinese nationals,
including over 20 Hong Kong compatriots, from the unrest-hit Solomon
Islands,which doesn't have diplomatic ties with China.
East Timor, which shares a land border with Indonesia's West Timor, is a former Portuguese colony. The country became the world's newest nation in May 2002. Enditem
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