MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Beijing thanks Argentina for protecting Chinese-owned stores during recent riots

At least 13 people were killed during the looting including one Chinese national

China expressed appreciation on Monday for Argentina's efforts to handle recent looting and damage to supermarkets owned by overseas Chinese. Beijing last week urged Buenos Aires to protect Chinese citizen's security and interests after one Chinese was killed in recent riots and looting.

 “China believes the Argentine government is able to maintain social stability and protect the life and property safety of people living in Argentina, including that of the overseas Chinese,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying at a routine press briefing.

Hua hailed Argentina's efforts to arrest two people who used social networking websites to incite the targeted looting of Chinese supermarkets.

Hua expressed appreciation for the high level of attention paid by Argentina to China's concerns, noting that the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Chinese Embassy in Argentina had urged the Argentine side to safeguard the overseas Chinese people's safety and interests.

According to local media reports, unrest during a police strike that began in the first week of December and spread to twenty provinces left a balance of at least 13 people killed, including on Chinese national, and 100 million dollars in property losses.

The conflict ended when in most provinces local governments caved in to demands from the striking police forces, which generated wide spread looting in main cities, apparently in some cases with some police officers sponsoring “liberated areas” for the criminals and vandals to act.