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Hu returns to direct rescue work
By WU JIAO (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-17 09:28
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President, premier tear up schedules to be with own people in tough times
BRASILIA, Brazil - What's behind the decision of President Hu Jintao to cut short his South American visit after being informed of the Qinghai earthquake?
The President had just completed two days of high-level talks at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington DC and was facing a nine-hour flight to Brasilia for the BRIC summit when he received the first reports of the 7.1 magnitude quake in Yushu county, Qinghai province.
In two separate written instructions, Hu and Wen instructed authorities to step up precautions to ward off potential risks of aftershocks and make sure aid was reaching the victims.
But as accounts and photos of the devastation continued to arrive, Hu decided to tear up his schedule and make plans to return home immediately to be with his people.
"At this difficult time, I must return to my country as soon as possible and be with my people for the disaster relief work. I must adjust the schedule and postpone the visits to the two countries," he said.
The Chinese president had planned to stay in Brazil until Friday for bilateral meetings and a summit of leading emerging economies. Hu's decision to fly back early forced Brazil to hurriedly bring forward the summit by a day. Hu thanked his hosts for their help and understanding after a meeting with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
"Our government is urgently organizing earthquake rescue efforts, and because of this I have decided to end this official visit early and return to China as soon as possible," Hu told reporters.
"I have already expressed my deep gratitude to President Lula and the Brazilian government for their understanding and cooperation," he added.
Hu had been scheduled to visit Chile and Venezuela after a state visit and two days of talks in Brasilia. He directed his aides to cancel the visits to Chile and Venezuela and reduce three days of meetings in Brasilia to one.
At midnight, he phoned Chilean President Sebastian Pinera and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to explain his change in schedule.
Pinera expressed his full understanding and support for Hu's decision. He also expressed deep condolences, as a major earthquake had struck his own country only a month ago.
Chavez also said he fully understood Hu's decision and immediately offered support for China's post-quake relief.
The leaders of Russia and India expressed their condolences and consented to the changes. President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia had just arrived in Brasilia, but agreed to start talks immediately.
President Hu's staff also had to scramble, spending a sleepless night preparing releases on the summit and on each of the bilateral negotiations.
But they were no match for their 68-year-old leader, who concluded his last activity at 10 pm and boarded a plane for China an hour later. President Hu is expected to arrive in Beijing early Saturday morning.
Premier Wen Jiabao, who visited the earthquake-hit region on Thursday evening, has also decided to postpone his visit to Brunei, Indonesia and Myanmar originally scheduled for next week.
Thousands of netizens left their comments on sina.com, a major news portal, to support the decisions of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao to postpone planned overseas visits because of the strong quake in Qinghai.
"We're lucky to have leaders like President Hu and Premier Wen, who are always concerned about the people. With them, we can overcome any difficulties," a netizen named Golden Countryside said.
"It's really touching that our leaders bear such strong sense of responsibilities. Wherever there is a disaster, our leaders will always rush to the scene," another netizen from Beijing said.
Reuters contributed to story.
