China's evacuation of citizens from Lebanon has almost come to an end as a
total of 143 Chinese citizens have been evacuated from Lebanon by Thursday,
Chinese Foreign Ministry said Thursday night.
The evacuees included seven compatriots from Hong Kong, a foreign ministry
statement said.
With most embassy staff evacuated, eight officials in Chinese Embassy in
Lebanon, including ambassador Liu Xianghua, remained in Lebanon to pay close
attention to the safety of the rest Chinese citizens in Lebanon, the statement
said.
Israel has intensified its air raids on Lebanese targets since launching a
massive assault on July 12 when Lebanon's Hezbollah guerillas kidnapped two
Israeli soldiers and killed eight in cross-border attacks.
The Chinese government has been highly concerned about the safety of Chinese
citizens in Lebanon.
Closely following the development, the Chinese Foreign Ministry launched the
emergency response mechanism last week.
The ministry also issued two advisories warning Chinese citizens against
traveling to Lebanon.
Since last Friday, the Chinese embassy in Lebanon has started to evacuated
Chinese citizens. Most citizens were evacuated to Syria. The last group of 22
Chinese citizens were evacuated to Cyprus Thursday noon on board a Greek ship.
Before the evacuation, Assistant Foreign Minister He Yafei talked via
telephone with ambassadors from related countries, informing them of the Chinese
government's decision to evacuate the citizens and seeking cooperation from
their countries to safeguard the security of Chinese nationals.
Thanks to the coordinating efforts with the Syrian border departments, the
Chinese Embassy in Syria helped the Chinese evacuees' resettle in the country.
The Chinese Embassy in Israel also launched its emergency response mechanism
and issued an advisory warning Chinese citizens against traveling to the
raid-plagued region.
The Chinese Embassy in Israel even facilitated Chinese citizens to leave the
raid-torn north region of Israel.
Governments around the world have been scrambling to evacuate their nationals
from Lebanon as the intense Israeli military offensive entered its ninth day in
the worst fighting across the border in more than two decades.
In April and May this year, China evacuated some 243 and 325 Chinese
nationals, including Hong Kong compatriots, respectively from the unrest-hit
Solomon Islands and East Timor.
