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China to help Indonesia extinguish forest fires

Xinhua, October 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

China will try its best to help Indonesia extinguish a forest fire raging across the country, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Friday.

China is communicating closely with Indonesia and the government is preparing to send rescue forces to the country, spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a routine press briefing.

The Indonesian government sought help from China and other countries to extinguish the fires, which have affected the air in Singapore and Malaysia.

The request was made after weeks of failed efforts, which involved 25,000 personnel, including soldiers, and dozens of aircraft, to extinguish the fires across the Sumatra and Borneo islands.

"China is paying close attention to Indonesia's requests," said Hua.

Indonesia has seen frequent forest fires in Sumatra and Borneo since the 1990s due to land being cleared for palm oil plantations. This year, the fires were exacerbated by the effects of the El Nino weather system Endi