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Beijing: China welcomed offers of international aid on Tuesday after an earthquake killed nearly 12,000 people, and said it was moved by the show of support.
But the Foreign Ministry did not say clearly whether China, whose role in recent years has shifted from aid recipient to aid donor as its economy soars, would accept the offers. "We express our welcome and gratitude. Relevant departments of China and relief departments welcome the aid of international society and are also willing to maintain communication with relevant countries and organisations," ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a news conference.
The United States, Britain, the European Union, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have offered assistance.
Taiwan's soon-to-be ruling Nationalist Party sent a cable to its one-time nemesis, the Communists, who won the Chinese civil war in 1949 and drove the defeated Nationalists into exile.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il sent his condolences.
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