China's aid efforts will continue and the government is closely communicating with Japan to provide much needed material supply. That's according to a press conference held by the Ministry of Commerce Tuesday morning.

Providing assistance to meet the most pressing needs. That's China's aim. And the Commerce Ministry says the Chinese Government is in close contact with Japan to determine exactly what those needs are.

"We will continue to organize needed assistance materials and dispatch them to Japan," said Yao Jian, spokesman of Ministry of Commerce. "Some of the requests made by Japan are not traditional emergency relief materials. We are doing our best to step up supply of these commodities."

The first batch of emergency assistance has already arrived in Japan. It includes 30 million yuan (about $4.5 million) worth of relief materials such as water, gloves, shoes, as well as 20,000 tons of gasoline and diesel.

The spokesman said the powerful earthquake will hit China-Japan trade in the near term, but the impact will be limited.

"Japan's exports to China of certain electronics, chemical, steel and auto will decline, while China's exports of garments and agriculture products to Japan will also fall in the short term," Yao said.

(CNTV.cn March 22, 2011)