Government departments vowed on Friday to improve their protection of the growing numbers of Chinese citizens living and working overseas.

The pledge, made at a ministerial-level conference held at Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, came a few days after the opening of the Foreign Ministry's consular protection center and its publication of a revised brochure on consular protection and assistance.

More and more Chinese people are going overseas, with 34.52 million visits abroad last year.

And by the end of last year, about 675,000 Chinese were working overseas, mostly in developing countries. China has sent a total of 1,200 medical personnel to foreign countries, while 150,000 Chinese seafarers are in more than 200 countries and regions.

In addition, more than 10,000 Chinese enterprises have set up businesses in over 200 countries and regions.

The Foreign Ministry and its missions abroad have dealt with more than 31,000 consular cases, 60 per cent of which were in Asia and Africa.

Diplomats from the ministry's consular division last year handled four evacuations of a total of 800 Chinese citizens from Solomon, East Timor, Lebanon and Tonga.

(China Daily September 1, 2007)