From Reuters, Benjamin Kang Lim reported: “China’s aid pledge to Asia’s tsunami victims, its largest ever for a humanitarian crisis, is a bid to expand its influence in the region where its diplomatic might has lagged its transformation into an economic powerhouse.
Premier Wen Jiabao, who arrived on Wednesday for a tsunami summit in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, last week offered 500 million yuan ($60.42 million) in aid for tsunami-ravaged countries on top of $2.6 million already pledged.”
