The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) praised China's strong support for its global "Say Yes for Children" campaign.

"The campaign reached all the provinces of China through some 70,000 specially trained volunteers, including many thousands of children," said Mehr Khan, regional director of UNICEF's East Asia and Pacific Regional Office.

The campaign, a key part of UNICEF's Global Movement for Children, was designed to mobilize large numbers of people to sign forms pledging their personal commitment to safeguarding children's essential needs and rights.

Over 18.1 million Chinese have signed pledge forms since the campaign was launched in China in April 2001.

Nearly 30 percent, or 600 million of the world's children live in the East Asia and Pacific region, as defined by UNICEF, more than half of them in China.

(Xinhua News Agency May 31, 2002)