China was preparing the next batch of humanitarian aid to South and Southeast Asia after the batches to Sri Lanka and Indonesia, Chinese Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai said in Beijing on December 29.

The first loads contained food, blankets, tents and bedsheets, and the next will include medicine, Bo told visiting Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, who cut short his China tourand was expected to return home Wednesday night.

China offered 21.63 million yuan (2.6 million US dollars) in emergency humanitarian aid to India, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, which were seriously hit by the largest earthquake and tsunami in 40 years in Dec. 26.

Source: Xinhua