China is taking various measures to minimize the impact that the toxic spill pollution in the Songhua River may have on Russia's far east region, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said in Beijing Tuesday.

Liu Jianchao told a regular press conference that both the Chinese and Russian governments attach great importance to the incident and hope it does not cast a shadow on China-Russia relations.

Liu said China has always responsibly handled issues of its border rivers with other countries.

"China will take into consideration the concerns and interests of the countries downstream of the rivers whenever it takes action in the upper stream," added Liu.

A blast at a northeast China chemical plant on November 13 sent an 80-kilometer-long slick of benzene into the Songhua River, which flows through China's Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces and then into Russia's far east region.

Liu said China has closely watched the situation and began to provide Russia with relevant information on November 22. Since last Thursday, China has begun to inform Russia daily about its monitoring.

The spokesman reaffirmed that China will try its best to take all measures to reduce the possible bad impact on Russia.

State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) Deputy Director Zhang Lijun held talks Monday night with a Russian Delegation of Khabarovsk Environmental Protection Bureau on dealing with the pollution incident.

Zhang informed the delegation in detail of the river pollution, including the sorts of pollutants, the density and the location of the pollution belt, and sent the Russia a set of benzene quick-detecting devices.

The spokesman also said SEPA welcomes cooperation with international organizations.

Source: Xinhua