Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing on Thursday talked on the telephone with his Nigerian counterpart Joy Ogwu about the five Chinese telecommunication workers kidnapped in southern Nigeria, the Foreign Ministry said.

 

The five Chinese workers from southwest China's Sichuan Telecommunication Company were abducted by a group of gunmen on January 5 at their rented residence in the state capital Port Harcourt.

 

A crisis management team composed of staff from the Chinese embassy in Abuja and the Chinese telecommunication company has arrived in Port Harcourt to seek an early release of the workers.

 

Li is currently attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-China foreign ministers' meeting in Cebu City in the Philippines.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 12, 2007)