China on Tuesday said it hoped a car accident that killed Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's wife would not affect the country's political reconciliation process.

"We express deep condolences over the death of Prime Minister's wife Susan Tsvangirai and extend our sincere regards to the injured Prime Minister," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told a regular briefing.

Tsvangirai's car crashed with a truck on Friday as the prime minister traveled to his rural home in Buhera. He suffered injuries but his wife Susan Tsvangirai was killed in the tragedy.

"We hope the incident will not affect the country's political reconciliation process and the Zimbabwe coalition government will run smoothly," Ma said.

Tsvangirai was a long-time opposition leader. He was sworn in on Feb. 11 as Zimbabwe's prime minister in a power-sharing deal which was to end a year-long deadly stalemate with President Robert Mugabe.

(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2009)