On March 16, 2014, Guo Shaochun, the head of the Chinese government joint work team and Deputy Director-General of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, briefed the media in Kuala Lumpur on the work done so far by the joint work team and the work priorities in the next phase.

Q: It has been nearly a week since the joint work team arrived in Malaysia. Could you please brief us on the work the team has done so far?

A: The work team arrived in Kuala Lumpur on the evening of March 10 and started work immediately in the same evening. We, along with the Chinese Embassy in Malaysia, have held a joint work meeting with the concerned departments of the Malaysian side and conducted several counterpart communication. We have went to the search and rescue control center of Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation, emergency command center of the Malaysia Airlines, and other institutions to get on-spot and in-depth understandings of the situation, put forward specific requirements, and urged the Malaysian side to intensify the search, rescue and investigation efforts and further improve the transparency, authoritativeness and accuracy of the released information.

We have assisted the Malaysia Airlines in receiving multiple groups of Chinese passengers' families coming to Malaysia, paid several visits and conveyed condolences to them, and communicated with them. With our efforts and upon our request, the Malaysia Airlines has provided Chinese passengers' families with one-to-one services, offered them Chinese interpreting service, and held regular meetings every day to brief them on the updates of the incident.

We have also held press conferences and timely introduced the work progress by such means as releasing information through the official microblog and interviews.

Q: Yesterday, the Malaysian government released the latest information on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight. May I ask what the joint work team is going to focus on in the next phase of work?

A: It has been over 8 days since the flight lost contact with the ground control, and we are in burning anxiety and worried about it. We pay high attention to the latest release of the relevant information by Malaysia, and have asked the Malaysian side to provide China with more comprehensive and accurate information. We will urge the Malaysian side to expand and specify the search areas and intensify the search efforts based on the updated information. At present, the civil aviation experts dispatched from China have already arrived in Kuala Lumpur to assist the Malaysian side in investigations. We will also urge, request and cooperate with the Malaysian side to keep shouldering the responsibility, and to do a good job in taking care of and appeasing the families of the Chinese passengers.