CHINA on Monday pledged an additional US$100 million in humanitarian aid to address the world’s biggest refugee crisis and said a US$1-billion fund it has set up with the United Nations could also be used for that purpose.

    Premier Li Keqiang made the pledge at the first-ever U.N. summit on refugees and migrants at the United Nations headquarters in New York, called to agree on an international response to the displacement crisis.

    “China attaches great importance to and has taken an active part in addressing this issue,” Li told the gathering when he chaired a roundtable on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

    “We are committed to shouldering our responsibilities compatible with our abilities,” he added.

    The premier announced US$100 million in humanitarian aid “on top of previous pledges” and said his government was considering “setting aside the China-U.N. Peace and Development Fund to help countries with that effort.”

    China announced the creation of the US$1-billion fund last year to support the work of the United Nations over the next 10 years.

    He also announced that China’s donation to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will reach US$18 million in the next three years.

    Li described the plight of refugees suffering from hunger and disease as “a serious shock to the human conscience” and said “the spirit of humanitarianism must be carried forward.”

    The roundtable, hosted by the Chinese Government, was attended by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, U.N. General Assembly President Peter Thomson and heads of 16 international organizations.

    Hailing Li’s ability to bring almost all U.N. agencies’ heads to the roundtable, Ban said he saw the strength of China.

    He commended China’s inclusion of SDGs in the core of its national development plans, calling for more efforts from the international community to address the challenges.

    Thomson lauded China for ratifying the Paris Agreement earlier this month. He called on countries to follow China’s example to ratify the agreement at an early date.

    Also at the meeting, Li released China’s national plan for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

    The 2030 Agenda, endorsed and launched at the U.N. Summit for Sustainable Development last year, is a blueprint for eradicating poverty across the world for the years leading up to 2030.

    In the past 15 years, China has lifted over 400 million people out of poverty, reducing the mortality of children under 5 years old by two-thirds and that of pregnant women by three-fourths, said Li.

    (SD-Xinhua)

    (Read more on P5: World leaders approve plan for refugee crisis)