China to Donate Over 20 Million Pounds of Food to Syria

China will donate 10,000 metric tons (about 22 million pounds) of food as part of humanitarian assistance to conflict-torn Syria, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

Speaking at the 2016 Supporting Syria and the Region conference on Thursday, Wang Yi said, as cited by Xinhua, that in order to resolve Syria’s humanitarian problems, emergency aid is not enough and the root causes of the Syrian crisis must also be addressed.

Syria has been mired in a civil war since 2011, with government forces loyal to President Bashar Assad fighting a number of opposition factions and extremist groups, such as Islamic State (IS, also known as Daesh), which is banned in a range of countries, including Russia.

The United Nations has repeatedly warned that people are dying of hunger and have limited access to medical care in a number of Syrian regions. According to UN estimates, over 220,000 people have died in Syria amid the internal conflict.

The fourth Supporting Syria and the Region conference ended in London on Thursday with its participants having pledged a total of almost $11 billion in aid to Syria, as well as neighboring countries that have been accepting Syrian refugees.

According to UN data, over 13 million Syrians are displaced inside the conflict-torn Arab republic, while over 4.5 million people have fled the country, mostly to neighboring states.