Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda sent a message later Monday to Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, pledging Japan's "every support" to China if necessary over the powerful earthquake, according to local media on Tuesday.

Fukuda extended his concern and sympathy over the damage caused by the earthquake which centered in southwestern China's Sichuan Province.

The prime minister's message was conveyed through the Japanese Embassy in China.

Fujio Mitarai, chairman of Japan's biggest business lobby Japan Business Federation, offered on the same day the body's "swift and all possible support" for reconstruction of the quake-hit areas "on the basis of humanitarianism and the Japan-China friendship." 　

(Xinhua News Agency May 13, 2008)