The Chinese government footed a bill of five million US dollars over the two past years to aid worldwide mine clearance activities, said an official at the ongoing mine-clearance technology and cooperation workshop held in Kunming since Monday.

Liu Jieyi, director of the Department of Arms Control and Disarmament under the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said the Chinese government attaches great importance to the security of human beings and made great efforts both toward domestic and overseas mine clearance.

China has rid itself of mine troubles on the whole since launching two large-scale mine dragging campaigns in the 1990s on border areas in southwestern China's Yunnan province and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government has been taking an active part in international rescue related to mine clearance and joined the New York-based Rescue Team for Mine Clearance Activity last year.

China also dispatched its own experts abroad to offer training lessons or directions on mine clearance. From 2002 to 2003, China trained 120 technicians in this field for Eritrea.

In 2001, China donated 1.26 million US dollars of equipment to seven countries, including Eritrea, Angola, Ethiopia, Cambodia, Mozambique and Namibia, which have been suffering land mines a lot. And in 1998, China donated a special fund of 100,000 US dollars for mine clearance in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The Humanitarian Mine/UXO Clearance Technology and Cooperation Workshop, which opened in Kunming, capital city of southwestern Yunnan province, on Monday, was attended by some 50 delegates from15 countries, 10 international institutions and non-governmental organizations.