Japan's chief government spokesman said Monday that Japan is ready to send a medical team to China's quake-hit southwestern areas.

Japan is willing to play a role in medical support once receiving an official request from the Chinese government, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura at a press conference.

Hailing the dispatched Japanese relief team as "highly competent", Machimura said that it is time to consider its future operation as a week has passed since the earthquake occurred.

The Japanese government sent a 60-member disaster relief team to China on Friday, the first batch of foreign aid personnel to enter China since the 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked China's southwestern province of Sichuan on May 12.

The team, including firefighters, members of the police and the Japan Coast Guard, has been busy with rescue operations in the worst-hit areas since.

(Xinhua News Agency May 19, 2008)