The Chinese government Wednesday stressed the importance for the country to improve river controls and prevent mountain floods in the wake of this year's frequent natural disasters.

The statement was issued following an executive meeting of China's State Council, or the cabinet, which was chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao on Wednesday.

In contrast with large rivers, the medium and small rivers in China are the Achilles' heel of the country's river control work, which surfaced in the wake of a series of flood-triggered disasters this year, according to the statement.

Over the next five years, China will increase efforts to control medium and small rivers, remove dangers and consolidate medium and small reservoirs, as well as preventing mountain floods in a bid to protect the safety of people's lives and property, according to the statement.

The central government will take flood-prone areas with dense population as priorities in dyke building and river regulation works, it said.

Further, reservoir consolidation work should seek to increase the modulation capacities of water resources.

The construction of flood storage regions along large rivers and lakes, including China's Dongting Lake and the Poyang Lake, should also be intensified.

China will set up more radar stations and meteorological stations in flood-prone areas, and make thorough investigations across the country in order to have a panoramic view of the areas with hidden natural disaster dangers like flood, mudslide, landslide and collapsing mountains .

Also, the country will strengthen ecological protection by planting more trees and vegetation to guard against soil erosion, according to the statement.

To that end, the central government promised to provide financial support to local governments by increasing input and expanding funding channels, as well as strengthening supervision of construction.

Floods, landslides and mud-rock flows in China killed 3,185 people and left 1,067 missing this year, as of the end of August, according to statistics from the Chinese National Committee for Disaster Reduction and the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

The Chinese central government has spent 2.43 billion yuan (US$361 million) on flood control and drought relief as of Aug. 23 this year, according to the Ministry of Finance.

The meeting also noted that maintaining ecological diversity, including three tiers of ecosystems, species and genes over the next 20 years, is the basis of the existence and development of human beings and also a guarantee of safe ecological security and food safety.

China will continue to improve laws and policies and promote international collaborations to protect ecological diversity, it added.

(Xinhua News Agency September 16, 2010)