A senior Chinese government official said Wednesday that major geological disasters and densely-populated regions would be the two main areas to monitor in the nation’s efforts to guard against losses caused by such disasters.

In the first 10 months of 2010, 2,909 people were dead or missing following over 30,000 recorded geological disasters, Xu Shaoshi, the Minister of Land and Resources, said at a meeting held Wednesday in Chengdu, capital city of southwestern Sichuan Province.

Further, the number of people dead or missing during this period was five times higher than in the same period last year, said Xu.

However, the majority of these victims, about 2,000 people, were killed or went missing after five major mud and rock slides which struck areas in west China’s Guizhou, Gansu, and Yunnan provinces, Xu said.

A massive mudslide triggered by rainstorms slammed Zhouqu County in northwest China’s Gansu Province this past August, leaving 1,510 dead and 255 others missing.

“Our focus in loss prevention and control in the future will be to closely watch the major geological disasters and the areas with high human concentrations,” said Xu.

Xu also urged local governments to make specific plans regarding geological disaster prevention, improve the assessment and pre-cautionary monitoring mechanism, and beef up rescue and response systems in the event of an emergency.

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Chinese President Hu Jintao on Tuesday called for joint efforts by all nations to promote a multi-polar world and democratization of international relations.

In a written interview with France’s Le Figaro newspaper and Portugal’s Lusa News Agency, President Hu also urged countries of the world to build a new type of relationship with each other: one in which they were politically respectful and trusting to each other and, economically, beneficial and reciprocal to each other.

“We uphold that all countries establish a win-win idea, link the interests of their own people with the common interests of the people of other countries, share their successful experience and conduct cooperation with a more open attitude,” Hu said.

“We uphold that all countries co-exist in peace, adhere to a new view of security that is based on mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and collaboration, solve conflicts by peaceful means, and safeguard world peace and stability,” he said.

Hu called on the international community, especially developed countries, to increase support and aid to developing countries and help them realize the UN Millennium Development Goals at an early date.

President Hu also called for strengthened dialogue and cooperation between developing countries and developed ones, expanding representation of developing countries in global management mechanisms, and establishment of a new type of global development partnership.

Hu expressed his belief the 21st Century would become a century of peace, development and cooperation under the joint efforts of the international community.

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Chinese President Hu Jintao on Tuesday put forward a four-point proposal aimed at securing the momentum of the world economic recovery, stressing the importance of reforming the international financial system and fighting trade protectionism.

In a written interview with France’s Le Figaro newspaper and Portugal’s Lusa News Agency, President Hu, due to visit the two countries from Nov. 4 to 7, answered questions regarding the coming G-20 summit in Seoul.

Hu said the summit was an effective mechanism for the international community to cope with the international financial crisis jointly and had played an important role in pushing forward international economic cooperation and promoting the recovery of the world economy.

Currently, the world economy was recovering slowly but its base was not solid and the process was unbalanced, so big uncertainty lingered, Hu said.

The world still faced severe challenges before it could escape the shadow of the international financial crisis and return to robust economic growth, he said.

The Chinese president said the coming G-20 summit in the South Korean capital should mainly discuss remaining unified to solve the basic problems that triggered the international financial crisis and consolidating the momentum of the world economic recovery.

To this end, President Hu put forward a four-point proposal in the written interview.

First, to continue to strengthen coordination of macro-economic policies using an “in-the-same-boat” spirit and mutually beneficial and win-win principles, and to send to the market positive signals that G-20 member states were unified to tackle the great challenges of the world economy so market confidence could rally and the momentum of the world economic recovery would be secured.

Second, to push forward the reforms of the international financial system, to strengthen supervision of the international financial market, and to increase the say and the representation of emerging and developing countries in international financial institutions.

Third, to push forward a resolution of the unbalanced development in developed and developing countries and to provide political support to the realization of UN Millennium Development Goals.

Fourth, to oppose trade protectionism and to push forward the Doha Round of WTO trade talks to achieve comprehensive and balanced results and its development goals.

Hu said China was ready to make joint efforts with other countries, including France and Portugal, to deal with the various challenges that the international community was facing and pushing forward the world economy toward robust, sustainable and balanced growth.

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