French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his condolence to quake victims in south-western China, according to a letter published Wednesday by Elysee Palace.

"At the moment when your country was stricken by another strong earthquake, I would like to ... express on behalf of myself and the French people the most sincere condolence to the numerous victims in the tragedy," Sarkozy said in the letter addressing to his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao.

He said the Wednesday earthquake reminded him of the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan province in May 2008, and was "confident of China's capacity to cope with the new ordeal."

Early Wednesday morning, a 7.1-magnitude earthquake rocked the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu, in Qinghai province. Initial reports said at least 400 people were killed and 10,000 others got injured.

(Xinhua News Agency April 15, 2010)