China’s government, quick to offer its assistance to Japan after Friday’s devastating earthquake despite the two nations’ sometimes rocky relations, continued on Monday to emphasize its desire to help its neighbor. At the end of his annual news conference—a two-hour-and-forty-minute affair at which none of the selected questioners asked about the earthquake–Premier Wen Jiabao told Japanese reporters in the room that he had a message.

Chinese Rescue Team in Japan. 2011.03.15

Chinese Rescue Team in Japan. 2011.03.15

Shortly after Mr. Wen spoke, the state-run Xinhua new agency quoted China’s Ministry of Commerce as saying Beijing planned to provide roughly $4.6 million in humanitarian assistance to support disaster relief efforts in Japan. The report noted that a 15-member Chinese rescue team had arrived in Japan on Sunday and said an initial shipment of blankets, tents, emergency lights and other relief materials will be sent to Japan from Shanghai. A team of 30 doctors, nurses and radiation control experts has also been assembled and is ready to be dispatched to Japan if needed, Xinhua said.

China humanitarian assistance to Japan disaster is loading. 2011.03.14

In a separate report, Xinhua on Sunday night quoted experts from the Beijing-based Regional Specialized Meteorological Center with the World Meteorological Organization as saying that radiation leaks so far at a nuclear power plant in northern Japan “poses no immediate threat to China.”

Separately, the Chinese embassy in Japan has reported that 6,957 Chinese nationals in the country had been confirmed safe as of 9:00 a.m. Monday, Xinhua says.

Meanwhile, China’s Commerce Minister, Chen Deming, told reporters on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress Sunday that the earthquake isn’t likely to have a large impact on China-Japan trade, and that any effect from the quake will be temporary.