The President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering, has expressed his deep sympathy with all those affected by the serious earthquake in China.

In a letter to the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, the President of Parliament extended his sincere condolences in view of the large number of victims and persons still missing.

"Our thoughts are with the injured and with the relatives of the victims of this serious earthquake. We all hope that many people can still be rescued alive from the rubble. Our sympathies are with all those people in China affected by this catastrophe," he said.