China planned to donate $500,000 (3.4 million yuan)to the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) of the United Nations in 2011, a Chinese diplomat to the world body said Tuesday.

Wang Min, deputy permanent representative of the Chinese Mission, made the remarks at the replenishment conference of the CERF, a UN-managed humanitarian fund created five years ago to ensure rapid and reliable assistance for people affected by conflict and natural disasters.

The donation needs to win the approval of the National People's Congress of China, the country's top legislative body, Wang said.

China has always supported the UN's leading role in international humanitarian affairs, Wang said.

"China appreciates the efforts the CERF has made in the past year on enhancing the ability and speed of humanitarian assistance response, increasing the mutual trust between donor countries and recipient countries, and improving the relief coordinating and fund-raising mechanism," Wang said.

China also welcomes the five-year appraisal of the fund in 2011, he added.

Donors pledged a total of $358 million (2.4 billion yuan) in contributions to the CERF at Tuesday's conference, bringing the total amount raised for the global emergency fund to more than $2 billion (13.6 billion yuan) since it was established by the General Assembly in 2005.

Since 2006, a total of 124 member states and observers -- almost two-thirds of all members of the General Assembly -- have made contributions to the CERF. A resolution adopted by the General Assembly in 2006 specifies that the CERF should be funded at $500 million (3.4 billion yuan) per year, of which $50 million (340 million yuan) is a revolving loan fund.

According to the UN, nearly $1.8 billion (12.2 billion yuan) have flowed through the fund to help millions of people in need. In 2010 alone, UN humanitarian teams in 44 countries have used some $400 million (2.7 billion yuan) in CERF funding.

(China Daily December 15, 2010)